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TWELYE YEARS 



SOLDIER'S LIFE IN INDIA. 



If a soldier. 
Choose brave employments with a naked sword, 
Thronghout the woi'ld. 

Geoegb Hbrbbrt. 



TWELVE YEARS 



SOLDIER'S LIFE IN INDIA: 



BEING EXTRACTS EROM THE LETTERS OE 



MAJOR W. S. E. HODSON, B.A. 

TEINITX COlIiEGE, CAMBBIDGB; 

riKST BEIfGAIi EUEOPEAN FtJSILIEES, COMMANDAHT OF HODSOK'S 

HOBSE. 



INCLUDING 

A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THE SIEGE OF DELHI AND 
CAPTURE OF THE KING AND PRINCES. 



EDITED BY HIS BROTHEK, 

TKE KEY. GEORGE H. HODSON, M.A. 

TELLOyr OF TRINITY COLIiEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 




LONDON: 
JOHN W. PARKER AND SON, WEST STRAND. 

1859. 



[The Author reserves the right of Translation.^ 







21^0 tfie JKematg 



SIR HENRY LAWRENCE, K.C.B. 

THE TRUE CHRISTIAN, THE BEAVE SOLDIER, 

THE FAITHFUL FRIEND, 

THESE EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTERS OF 

ONE WHOM HE TRAINED 

TO FOLLOW IN HIS FOOTSTEPS, AND WHO NOW 

RESTS NEAR HIM AT LUCKNOW, 

BY THE EDITOR 



They were lovely and pleasant in their lives. 
And in their deaths they were not divided. 



PREFACE. 



TT can scarcely be needful to make any 
apology for offering to the public this 
record of one who has attracted to himself 
so large a measure of attention and admira- 
tion. Many, both in this country and in 
India, have expressed, and I doubt not many 
others have felt, a desire to know more of the 
commander of Hodson's Horse, and captor of 
the King of Delhi and his sons. 

My original intention was to have compiled 
from my brother's letters merely an account of 
the part he bore in the late unhappy war. I 
very soon, however, determined to extend the 
work, so as to embrace the whole of his life in 
India. 

I felt that the public would naturally in- 
quire by what previous process of training he 
had acquired, not merely his consummate skill 
in the great game of war, but his experience 
of Asiatics and marvellous influence over their 
minds. 



VI 11 PREFACE. 

The earlier portions of this book will serve 
to answer such inquiries ; they will show the 
gradual development of my brother's character 
and powers, and that those exploits which asto- 
nished the world by their skill and daring, were 
but the natural results of the high idea of the sol- 
dier's profession which he proposed to himself, 
honestly and consistently worked out during ten 
years of training, in perhaps the finest school 
that ever existed for soldiers and administrators. 
They will explain how it was that, in the midst 
of a struggle for the very existence of our 
empire, he was able to call into being and bring 
into the field around Delhi an ' invincible and 
all but ubiquitous' body of cavalry. 

The dragon's teeth which came up armed 
men, had been sown by him long before in his 
earlier career in the Punjab. There, by many 
a deed of daring and activity, by many a suc- 
cessful stratagem and midnight surprise, by 
many a desperate contest, he had taught the 
Sikhs first to dread him as an enemy, and then 
to idolize him as a leader. Already in 1849 
the Grovernor-Greneral had had ' frequent occa- 
' sions of noticing not only his personal gal- 
* lantry, but the activity, energy, and inteUi- 



PREFACE. IX 

' gence with wliicli he discharged whatever 
' duties were entrusted to him.' Even then 
the name of Hodson, although unknown in 
England, except to the few who watched his 
course with the eyes of affection, was a sound 
of terror to the Sikhs, and a bugbear to their 
children. In 1853 he earned this high praise 
from one best qualified to judge : ' Lieutenant 
' Hodson, marvellously attaching the Gruides 

* to himself by the ties of mutual honour, 

* mutual daring, and mutual devotion, has on 
' every opportunity proved that the discipline 
' of a public school and subsequent University 
' training are no disqualification for hazardous 
' warfare, or for the dif&cult task of keeping 
' wild tribes in check.' 

The title given to this book will sufficiently 
indicate the principle on which, particularly in 
the first part, I have made selections from my 
brother's letters. My object has been to show 
what a soldier's life in India may be, and what 
in his case it was ; how wide and varied is the 
field which it opens for the exercise of the 
highest and noblest qualities, intellectual and 
moral, of our nature; and how magnificently he 
realized and grasped the conception. 



X PREFACE. 

His letters, written in all the freedom of 
unreserved intercourse, will give a truer notion 
of his character than the most laboured de- 
scription; they exhibit the undercurrent of deep 
feelings that ran through even his most playful 
moods, the yearning after home that mingled 
with the dreams of ambition and the thirst for 
the excitement of war, the almost womanly 
tenderness that co-existed with the stern 
determination of the soldier. They show that 
though his lot was cast in camps, he was 
not a mere soldier ; though a hanger-on on the 
outskirts of civilization amidst wild tribes, he 
had a keen appreciation of the refinement and 
elegancies of civilized life ; that though in 
India, he remembered that he was an English- 
man ; that though living amongst the heathen, 
he did not forget that he was a Christian. 

I have not attempted to write a biography, 
but have allowed my brother to speak for 
himself, merely supplying such connecting 
links as seemed absolutely necessary. 

Indeed, I could do no otherwise ; for un- 
happily, during the twelve years of his soldier's 
life — those years in which his character 
received its mature development — I knew him 



PREFACE. XI 

only by his letters, or by the reports of others : 
when we parted on board the ship that 
carried him from England, in 1845, we parted 
to meet no more in this world. My recollec- 
tions of him, vivid as they are, are not of the 
leader of men in council and the battle-field, 
but of the bright and joyous boy, the life of 
the home circle, the tender and affectionate 
son, the loving brother, the valued friend, the 
popular companion. 

Of what he became afterwards my readers 
will have the same means of judging as myself. 
He seems to me to have been one of whom 
not only his family, but his country may well 
be proud — a worthy representative of the 
English name and nation amongst the tribes 
of India, an impersonation of manly straight- 
forwardness, and unhesitating daring, and irre- 
sistible power. 

I cannot doubt but that the verdict of his 
countrymen will confirm my judgment. 

Many too, I beheve, will agree with me in 
thinking that these pages prove that the 
poetry and romance of war are not yet extinct, 
that even the Enfield rifle has not reduced all 
men to a dead level, but that there is still a 



Xll PREFACE. 

place to be found for individual prowess, for 
the lion-heart, and the eagle eye, and the 
iron will. One seems transported back from 
the prosaic nineteenth century to the ages of 
romance and chivalry, and to catch a glimpse, 
now of a Paladin of old, now of a knightly 
hero sans peur et sans rejproche ; now of a 
northern chieftain, 'riding on border foray,' 
now of a captain of free-lances ; yet all dis- 
solving into a Christian soldier of our own 
day. 

Most striking of all, it has appeared to me, 
is the resemblance to the romantic career of 
that hero of the Spanish ballads, who, by his 
many deeds of heroic daring, gained for him- 
self the distinguished title of ' El de las 
Hazanas,' — ' He of the exploits.' Those who 
are acquainted with the chronicles of the Con- 
quest of Grranada, will almost fancy in reading, 
these pages that they are hearing again the 
story of Pernando Perez del Pulgar ; how at 
one time by a bold dash he rode with a hand- 
ful of followers across a country swarming with 
the enemy, and managed to force his way into 
a beleaguered fortress ; how at another he 
galloped alone up the streets of Grranada, then 



PREFACE. XUl 

in possession of the enemy, to the gates of the 
principal mosque, and nailed a paper to the 
door with his dagger ; how again he turned the 
tide of battle by the mere charm of his eagle 
eye and thrilling voice, inspiring the most 
timid with a courage equal to his own ; how 
he made the enemy lay down their arms at his 
word of command ; how the Moorish mothers 
frightened their children with the sound of 
his name; how he was not only the hair- 
brained adventurer, delighting in peril and 
thirsting for the excitement of the fight, but 
also the courteous gentleman, the accomplished 
scholar ; as profound and sagacious in the 
council as he was reckless in the field, and 
frequently selected by the wily Ferdinand to 
conduct affairs requiring the greatest prudence 
and judgment.* 

It may be, however, that affection has 
biassed my judgment, and that I shall be 
thought to have formed an exaggerated 
estimate of the grandeur and nobleness of the 
subject of this memoir. Even if this be so, 
I shall not take much to heart the charge 



See Washington Irving, &g. 



XIV PREEACE. 

of having loved such a brother too well, and I 
shall console myseK with the thought that I 
have endeavoured to do something to perpe- 
tuate his memory. 

If, however, any young soldier be in- 
duced, by reading these pages, to take a 
higher view of his profession, to think of it as 
one of the noblest fields in which he can serve 
his Grod and his country, and enter on it in 
a spirit of self-sacrifice, with ' duty ' as his 
guiding principle, and a determination never 
to forget that he is a Christian soldier and an 
Englishman, I shall be abundantly rewarded ; 
my main object will be attained. 



COOKHAM DeANE, 

December, 1858. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

CHAPTER I. 

EARLY LIFE — RUGBY TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE 

GUERNSEY MILITIA pp. I — 5 

CHAPTER II. 

ARRIVAL IN INDIA CAMPAIGN ON THE SUTLEJ, BATTLES OF 

MOODKEE, PEROZESHAH, SOBRAON OCCUPATION OF 

LAHORE 1845-6 6 26 

CHAPTER III. 

FIRST BENGAL EUROPEAN FUSILIERS CASHMERE WITH 

SIKH ARMY LAWRENCE ASYLUM APPOINTMENT TO 

GUIDE CORPS — June 1846 — Oct. 1847 • • 27 — 47 

CHAPTER IV. 
EMPLOYMENT IN THE PUNJAB AS SECOND IN COMMAND OF 
THE CORPS OP GUIDES, AND ALSO AS ASSISTANT TO THE 

RESIDENT AT LAHORE ROAD-MAKING AND SURVEYING 

CAMPAIGN OP 1848-9 — CAPTURE OF FORTS BATTLE 

OF GUJERAT ANNEXATION OF PUNJAB Oct. 1 847 

March 1849 48—88 

CHAPTER V. 

ANNEXATION OF PUNJAB INCREASE OF CORPS OF GUIDES 

AT PESHAWUR TRANSFER TO CIVIL DEPARTMENT AS 

ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER — A'pril 1 849 — A'pril 1850, 

89 104 

CHAPTER VI. 

TOUR IN CASHMERE AND THIBET WITH SIR HENRY LAW- 
RENCE TRANSFER TO CIS-SUTLEJ PROVINCES Jvme 

1851 — Oct. 1851 105 — 126 



XVI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER Vir. 

MARRIAGE COMMAND OF THK GUIDES PESHAWUR 

EUZUFZAI FRONTIER WARFARE MURDAN Jan. 

1852 — Nov. 1S54 pp. 127 — 154 

CHAPTER VIII. 

REVERSES UNJUST TREATMENT — OFFICIAL ENMITY — LOSS 

OF COMMAND — SUPPRESSION OF RE! OUT RETURN TO 

REGIMENTAL DUTIES BETTER PROSPECTS — MAJOR 

Taylor's report — testimony of sir r. NAPiEFi — mr. 
MONTGOMERY — Nov. 1854 — May 1857 . 155 — 178 



PART II. 

NARRATIVE OF THE DELHI CAMPAIGN, 1857, 1858. 

CHAPTER I. 
OUTBREAK OF REBELLION — MARCH DOWN TO DELHI FROM 

DUGSHAI WITH FIRST EUROPEAN BENGAL FUSILIERS 

APPOINTMENT TO INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT RIDE 

FROM KURNAL TO MEERUT TO OPEN COMMUNICATION 

ORDER TO RAISE REGIMENT DEATH OF GENERAL 

ANSON — May \oth — June 8th .... 179 — 198 

CHAPTER II. 
SIEGE OF DELHI — June — August ..... 199 — 264 

CHAPTER III. 

SIEGE OF DELHI, CONTINUED ROHTUCK EXPEDITION — 

ASSAULT DELHI TAKEN — CAPTURE OF KING 

CAPTURE AND EXECUTION OF SHAHZADAHS August 

I'jth — Sept. 2^th 265 — 320 

CHAPTER IV. 

SHOWERS'S COLUMN SEATON's COLUMN ACTIONS AT GUN- 

GEREE, PUTIALEE, MYNPOREE RIDE TO COMMANDER- 

IN-CHIEF's camp JUNCTION OF FORCES SHUMSHABAD 

— Oct. — Jan 321 — 347 

CHAPTER V. 

LUCKNOW THE BEGUm'S PALACE BANKS' HOUSE — THE 

soldier's DEATH — Feb. — March 12th . . 348 — 365 



TWELVE YEAES 



SOLDIER'S LIFE IN INDIA. 



PART I. 



CHAPTEE I. 

EARLY LIPE. RUGBY. CAMBRIDGE. — GUERNSEY. 

William Stephen Eaikes Hodson, tliird son 
of Eev. George Hodson, afterwards ArcMeacon 
of Stafford and Canon of Lichfield, was born 
at Maisemore Court, near Grloucester, on 19th 
Marcli, 1 83 1. 

As a boy, bis affectionate disposition and 
bright and joyous character endeared him 
greatly to his family, and made him a general 
favourite with all around him, old and young, 
rich and poor. That which characterized him 
most was his quickness of observation and his 
interest in everything going on about him. 
By living with his eyes and ears open, and 
never suffering anything to escape his notice, 
he acquired a stock of practical knowledge 
which he turned to good account in his after- 
life. With the exception of a short time spent 

B 

I 



Z RUGBY. 

with, a private tutor, the Eev. E. Harland, he 
was educated at home till he went to Eugby, 
in his fifteenth year. Home life, however, 
had not prevented him from growing up an ac- 
tive, high-spirited boy, full of life and energy. 
His feats of activity at Rugby still live in 
the remembrance of his cotemporaries and the 
traditions of the school. The following is an 
extract from a paper in the Book of ^ugby 
School, published in 1856: — 

Who does not remember the fair-haired_, light- 
complexioned active man whose running feats^ whether 
in the open fields or on the gravel walks of the Close, 
created such marvel among his cotemporaries. He 
has carried his hare and hounds into his country's 
service, and as commandant of the gallant corps of 
Guides, has displayed an activity and courage on the 
wild frontier of the Punjab, the natural development 
of his early prowess at Crick and Brownsover. 

A very similar notice appeared in a periodical 
during the recent campaign : — 

The Rugboeans have had their Crick run. Six 
miles over heavy country, there and back, to the 
school gates by the road, is no mean distance to be 
done in one hour twenty-nine minutes. 

There was a day when the gallant leader of 
Hodson's Horse always led in this run. We think we 
see ' larky Pritchard,' as he was familiarly designated, 
in his blue cloth jacket, white trousers, his well- 
known belt, and his ' golden hair,' going in front with 



RUGBY. 6 

his nice easy stride (for he never had any very great 
pace, though he could last for ever), and getting back 
coolly and comfortably to ' Eons' when the rear 
hounds were toiling a mile behind. There never was 
such a boy to run over, after second lesson, to Dun- 
church to see the North Warwickshire, or to give 
himself a ' pipe-opener' to Lutterworth and back 
between callings over, till the doctor vowed he would 
injure his heart. How true it is that men who have 
distinguished themselves most in school sports come 
out the best at last. 

It was not, however, only in active sports 
that he showed ability. As head of a house, 
during the later portion of his Bugby life, 
he gave equal indications of ' administrative 
capacity.' 

His tutor (the present Bishop of Calcutta), 
speaking of his having been transferred to his 
house, in which there were then no praepostors, 
* because, from his energetic character and 
natural ability, he seemed to Dr. Arnold likely 
to give me efficient help,' continues : — ' He 
gave abundant proof that Arnold's choice had 
been a wise one. Though lie immediately 
re-established the shattered prestige of prse- 
positorial power, he contrived to make himself 
very popular with various classes of boys. The 
younger ones found in him an efficient pro- 
tector against bullying. Those of a more 
literary turn found in him an agreeable and 

B 2 



4 CAMBRIDGE. 

intelligent companion, and were fond of being 
admitted to sit in his study and talk on matters 
of intellectual interest. The democrats had 
got their master, and submitted with a good 
grace to power which they could not resist, 
and which was judiciously and moderately 
exercised. The regime was wise, firm, and 
kind, and the house was happy and pros- 
perous. 

'From all that I knew of him, both at 
Bugby and afterwards, I was not surprised at 
the courage and coolness which the Times 
compared ' to the spirit of a Paladin of old.' 
I cannot say how much I regret that I shall 
not be welcomed in India by the first head of 
my dear old house at Eugby.' 

From Rugby my brother went, in October, 
1840, to Trinity College, Cambridge. Here, 
as might have been expected from his previous 
habits, he took an active interest in boating 
and other athletic amusements, while at the 
same time he by no means neglected the more 
serious and intellectual pursuits of the Uni- 
versity. He had a very considerable acquain- 
tance with, and taste for, both classical and 
general literature, but a constitutional ten- 
dency to headache very much stood in the 
way of any close application to books ; and, 
after he had taken his degree in 1844, was 



GUERNSEY MILITIA. 



one strong reason for liis deciding on an active 
ratlier tlian a studious life. The Indian army 
seemed to offer the best opening, but while 
waiting for a cadetship, in order to prevent 
superannuation he obtained a commission in 
the Guernsey Militia through the kindness of 
Lord de Saumarez, and there commenced his 
military life. From the first he felt that the 
profession of a soldier was one that required 
to be studied, and took every opportunity of 
mastering its principles. 

On his leaving Gruernsey to enter the Hon. 
East India Company's service, Major-Gleneral 
W. Napier, Lieutenant-Grovernor, bore this tes- 
timony to his character : — ' I think he will be 
an acquisition to any service. His education, 
his ability, his zeal to make himself acquainted 
with military matters, gave me the greatest 
satisfaction during his service with the militia.' 



CHAPTEE II. 

ARRIVAL IN INDIA. CAMPAIGN ON THE SUTLEJ, 

1845 — 46. 

lyrY brother landed at Calcutta on the 13th 
of September, 1845, ^^^ with as little 
delay as possible proceeded up the country to 
Agra, where he found a hearty welcome 
beneath the hospitable roof of the Hon. James 
Thomason, Lieutenant-Governor of the North- 
West Provinces, an old family friend and con- 
nexion, who from that time to his death 
treated him with as much affection, and took 
as deep an interest in his career, as if he had 
been his own son. 

He was appointed to do duty with the 
2nd Grenadiers, then forming a part of the 
Governor-General's escort, and accordingly left 
Agra on November 2nd. In the following 
letter he describes his first impressions of 
camp life in an Indian army. 

After mentioning a delay caused by an 
attack of fever and dysentery on liis way to 
the camp, he proceeds : — 

I was able^ however, to join the Grenadiers at 
four o'clock on the morning of the 7th, and share 



CAMP. 7 

their dusty march of ten miles to the village near 
which the Governor-General's camp was pitched. 
Since that day we have been denizens of a canvas 
city of a really astonishing extent, seeing that it is 
the creation of a few hours, and shifts, with its 
enormous population, some ten or fifteen miles a day. 
I wonder more every day at the ease and magnitude 
of the arrangements, and the varied and interesting 
pictures continually before our eyes. Soon after four 
A.M., a bugle sounds the reveille, and the whole mass 
is astir at once. Q^'he smoke of the evening tires has 
by this time blown away, and everything stands out 
clear and defined in the bright moonlight. The 
Sepoys, too, bring the straw from their tents, and 
make fires to warm their black faces on all sides, and 
the groups of swarthy redcoats stooping over the 
blaze, with a white background of canvas, and the 
dark clear sky behind all, produce a most picturesque 
effect as one turns out into the cold. Then the 
multitudes of camels, horses, and elephants, in all 
imaginable groups and positions — the groans and 
cries of the former as they stoop and kneel for their 
burdens, the neighing of hundreds of horses mingling 
with the shouts of the innumerable servants and 
their masters^ calls, the bleating of sheep and goats, 
and louder than all, the shrill screams of the Hindoo 
women, almost bewilder one's senses as one treads 
one's way through the canvas streets and squares to the 
place where the regiment assembles outside the camp. 
A second bugle sounds ' the assembly.' There is a 
blaze of torches from the Governor's tents ; his palan- 
quin carriage, drawn by four mules, and escorted by 
jingling troopers, trots to the front. The artillery 



8 CAMP. 

thunder forth the morning gun^ as a signal that the 
great man is gone — the guns rattle by — the cavalry- 
push on after them — and then at length our band 
strikes up. ' Forward ' is the word^ and the red (and 
black) column moves along^ by this time as com- 
pletely obscured by the dense clouds of dust as though 
they were in London during a November fog. We 
are not expected to remain with our men^ but mount 
at onee^ and ride in a cluster before the band^ or ride 
on a quarter of a mile or so^ in twos and threes^ com- 
plaining of the laziness of the great man^s people^ 
and of the dust and cold, as if we were the most 
ill-used of her Majesty's subjects. As soon as we're 
oflF the ground, and the road pretty clear, I dismount, 
and walk the first eight miles or so, this being the 
time to recover one's powers of locomotion. The cold 
is really very great, especially in the hour before 
sunrise — generally about one and a half or two hours 
after we start. It soon gets warm enough to make 
one glad to ride again, and by the time the march is 
over, and the white city is in sight, the heat is very 
great, though now diminishing daily. It is a sudden 
change of temperature, truly — from near freezing at 
starting, to 90° or 100° at arriving ; and it is this, I 
think, which makes us feel the heat so much in this 
climate. In the daytime we get on very well ; the 
heat seldom exceeding 86°, and often not more than 
84° and 83° in tents. It sounds hot, but a house or 
tent at 84° is tolerably endurable, especially if there 
is a breeze. My tent is twelve feet square inside, 
and contains a low pallet bed, a table, chair, two 
camel trunks, and a brass basin for washing. I will 
get a sketch of the camp to send you. 



CAMP. 9 

Nov. iSl/i. — This nomad life is agreeable in many- 
respects^ and very liealthy_, and one sees a great deal 
of the country, but it destroys time rather, as the 
march is not over generally till half-past nine or ten, 
and then breakfast, a most eagerly desired com- 
position, and dressing afterwards, do not leave much 
of the day before the cool evening comes for exercise, 
or sight-seeing and dining, and by nine most of us 
are in bed, or near it. 

Dec. 2. — Umbala. — We had a short march of six 
miles into Umbala this morning, and I got leave from 
our colonel to ride on and see the troops assemble to 
greet the Governor-General. I never saw so splendid 
a sight : 1 3,000 of the finest troops were drawn up in 
one line, and as I rode slowly along the whole front, 
I had an excellent opportunity of examining the 
varied materials of an Indian army. First were the 
English Horse Artillery ; then the dashing dragoons 
of the 3rd Queen^s, most splendidly mounted and 
appointed ; then, came the stern, determined-looking 
British footmen, side by side with their tall and 
swarthy brethren from the Ganges and Jumna — 
the Hindoo, the Mussulman, and the white man, all 
obeying the same word, and acknowledging the same 
common tie ; next to these a large brigade of guns, 
with a mixture of all colours and creeds ; then more 
regiments of foot, the whole closed up by the regi- 
ments of native cavalry: thequiet-looking and English - 
dressed Hindoo troopers strangely contrasted with 
the wild Irregulars in all the fanciful ?«zuniforraity of 
their native costume : yet these last are the men / 
fancy for service. Altogether, it was a most inte- 
resting sight, either to the historian or soldier, espe- 



10 SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 

cially as one remembered that these were no men of 
parade, but assembled here to be poured across the 
Sutlej at a word. 

The 'pomp and circumstance' of war were 
soon to be exchanged for its stern realities, as 
will be seen in the following letter to his 
father, dated Christmas Day, 1845 : — 

Camp, Sultanpoor. 
I take the first day of rest we have had to write 
a few hurried lines to relieve you from any anxiety 
you may have felt at not hearing from me by the 
last mails, or from newspaper accounts, which will, I 
fear, reach you before this letter can. I am most 
thankful to be able to sit down once more to write to 
you all but unharmed. Since I wrote, I have been 
in four general engagements of the most formidable 
kind ever known in India. For the first time we 
had to contend with a brave and unconquered people, 
disciplined, and led on like our own troops by 
European skill ; and the result, though successful to 
our arms, has been fearful indeed as to carnage. You 
will see accounts in the papers giving details more 
accurate than I can possibly furnish, both of our 
wonderfully rapid and fatiguing marches, and of the 
obstinate and bloody resistance we met with. On 
the tenth of this month, on our usual quiet march to 
Sirhind with the Grovernor-G^eneral's camp, we were 
surprised by being joined by an additional regiment, 
and by an order for all non-soldiers to return to 
Umbala. From that day we have had the fatigues 
and exertions of actual warfare in their broadest 
forms — marching day and night unprecedented dis- 



SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 11 

tances, scarcity of sleep and food, and all tlie varieties 
of cold and heat. I enjoyed all, and entered into it 
with great zest, till we came to actual blows, or 
rather, I am [now) half ashamed to say, till the blows 
were over, and I saw the horrible scenes which 
ensue on war. I have had quite enough of such 
sights now, and hope it may not be my lot to be 
exposed to them again. Our loss has been most 
severe, especially in officers. Our Sepoys could 
not be got to face the tremendous fire of the Sikh 
artillery, and as usual, the more they quailed the 
more the English officers exposed themselves in vain 
efforts to bring them on. The greatest destruction 
was, however, among the Governor-GeneraFs staff — 
only two (his own son and Colonel Benson) escaped 
death or severe wounds. They seemed marked for 
destruction, and certainly met it most gallantly. On 
the 15th we joined the Commander-in-Chief, with his 
troops from Umbala, were put off escort duty, and 
joined General Gilbert's division. On the 17th we 
had a march of thirty miles (in the daytime, too), 
with scanty food; on the i8th, after a fasting march 
of twenty-five miles, we were summoned, at half-past 
four in the afternoon, to battle, which lasted till long 
after dark. Almost the first shot which greeted our 
regiment killed the man standing by my side, and 
instantly afterwards I was staggered by a ball from a 
frightened Sepoy behind me grazing my cheek and 
blackening my face with the powder — so close was it 
to my head ! We were within twenty, and at times 
ten, yards of three guns blazing grape into us, and 
worse than all, the bushes with which the whole 
ground was covered were filled with marksmen who, 



12 SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 

unseen by us^ could pick us off at pleasure. No efforts 
could bring the Sepoys forward, or half the loss might 
have been spared, had' they rushed on with the 
bayonet. We had three officers wounded out of our 
small party, and lost many of the men. We were 
bivouacked on the cold ground that night, and 
remained under arms the whole of the following day- 
Just as we were going into action, I stumbled upon 
poor Carey, whom you may remember to have heard 
of at Price^s, at Rugby. On going over the field on 
the 30th, I found the body actually cut to pieces by 
the keen swords of the Sikhs, and but for his clothes 
could not have recognised him. I had him carried 
into camp for burial, poor fellow, extremely shocked 
at the sudden termination of our renewed acquain- 
tance. On Sunday, the 21st, we marched before day- 
break in force to attack the enemy, who had entrenched 
themselves behind their formidable artillery. The 
action began in the afternoon, lasted the whole 
night, and was renewed with daybreak. They 
returned again to the charge as often as we gained 
any advantage, and it was evening before they were 
finally disposed of by a charge of our dragoons, and 
our aimnunition loas exhausted I — so near are we in our 
most triumphant successes to a destruction as com- 
plete ! The results are, I suppose, in a political point 
of view, immense indeed. We took from them nearly 
one hundred large guns, and routed their vast army, 
prepared, had they succeeded in beating us, to overrun 
Hindoostan ; and it must be owned they had nearly 
succeeded ! It will scarcely be believed, but they had 
actually purchased and prepared supplies as far into 
the interior of our country as Delhi, and unknown to 



SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 13 

our authorities ; and the whole of Northern India was, 
as usual, ready to rise upon us at an hour's notice. 
On the evening of the 31st, as we rushed towards the 
guns, in the most dense dust and smoke, and under 
an unprecedented fire of grape, our Sepoys again gave 
way and broke. It was a fearful crisis, but the 
bravery of the English regiments, saved us. The 
Colonel (Hamilton), the greater part of my brother 
officers, and myself, were left with the colours and 
about thirty men immediately in front of the bat- 
teries ! Our escape was most providential, and is, I 
trust, thankfully acknowledged by us. A ball (from 
a shell, I fancy) struck my leg below the knee, but 
happily spared the bone, and only inflicted a flesh 
wound. I was also knocked down twice — once by a 
shell bursting so close to me as to kill the men behind 
me, and once by the explosion of a magazine or mine. 
I am most thankful indeed for my escape from deatli 
or maiming. The wound in my leg is nothing, as 
you may judge when I tell you that I was on foot or 
horseback the whole of the two following days. Last 
night we moved on here about five miles from the 
scene of action, and got some food, and into our beds, 
after four days and nights on the ground, alternately 
tried with heat and cold (now most severe at night), 
and nothing but an occasional mouthful of black 
native bread. I think, during the four days, all I 
had to eat would not compose half a home breakfast- 
loaf, and for a day and night we had not even water ; 
when we did get water, after driving the enemy from 
their camp, it was found to have been spoiled with 
gunpowder ! It was like eating Leamington water, 
but our thirst was too great to stick at trifles. 



14 SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 

Dec. 26fJi. — "We are resting liere comfortably again 
in our tents^ and had a turkey for our Christmas 
dinner last night. The rest is most grateful. We 
had only nine hours in bed out of five nights, and 
then the next four were on the ground. So you see 
I have come in for the realities of a soldiei^^s life 
pretty early in my career ; and since I am spared, it 
is doubtless a great thing for me in every way. 
There never has been anything like it in India, and 
it is not often that an action anyiohere has lasted 
thirty-six hours, as ours did. It is called a succession 
of three engagements, but the firing never ceased for 
a quarter of an hour. Infantry attacking guns was 
the order of the day, and the loss occasioned by such 
a desperate resort was fearful. How different your 
Christmas week will have been from mine ! This 
time last year I was quietly staying at Bisham, and 
now sleeping on the banks of the Sutlej, with a sea 
of tents around me for miles and miles ! The last 
few days seem a year, and I can scarcely believe that 
I have only been four months in India, and only two 
with my regiment. 



To tJie Hon. James Thomason, Lieutenant-Governor of 
North- West l?rovinces,. 

Camp, Bootawallah, January 22nd, 1846. 
There is very much in the state of things in this 
army both discouraging and deeply disappointing to 
one who like myself comes into the service with a 
strong predilection for the profession, and a wish to 
enter into its duties thoroughly and earnestly. I do 
not like to enter into particulars, for I hold it very 



SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 15 

unmilitaiy, especially in so young a soldier^ to attempt 
to criticise the acts and motives of one^s superior, 
but I may in private again express my extreme dis- 
appointment at the state in which the Sepoys are at 
present, and as far as I can judge from what is said 
in conversation, there are but few officers in the army 
who do not deplore it. In discipline and subordi- 
nation they seem to be lamentably deficient, espe- 
cially towards the native commissioned and non-com- 
missioned officers. On the march, I have found these 
last give me more trouble than the men even. My 
brother officers say that I see an unfavourable 
specimen in the and, as regards discipline, owing to 
their frequent service of late, and the number of 
recruits ; but I fear the evil is very wide-spread. It 
may no doubt be traced mainly to the want of 
European officers. This, however, is an evil not likely 
to be removed on any large scale. Meantime, unless 
some vigorous and radical improvements take place, 
I think our position will be very uncertain and even 
alarming in the event of extended hostilities. You 
must really forgive my speaking so plainly, and 
writing my own opinions so freely. You encouraged 
me to do so when I was at Agra, if you remember, 
and I - value the privilege too highly as connected 
with the greater one of receiving advice and counsel 
from you, not to exercise it, even at the risk of your 
thinking me presumptuous and hasty in my opinions. 
I imagine (in my own defence, be it said) that three 
mouths of marching and of service give you more 
insight into the real efficiency or evils of an army, 
than a much longer time spent in cantonments. It 
is, of course, a deeply interesting subject to me, and 



16 SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 

one of deep and anxious reflection. I think the 
period of ' doing duty ' which I shall have passed 
ere joining my future regiment, of the greatest 
consequence and benefit, as enabling me to form a 
judgment, to the best of my abilities, of the course to 
be steered in the difficult voyage. It seems to me 
that the great problem to be solved is how ' to do 
your own business^' at the same time that 'you study 
to he quiet,' i.e., how unostentatiously to do your 
appointed duty thoroughly, without being deterred 
by the fear of being thought over-zealous or osten- 
tatious. 

At a later period, when it was proposed to 
erect a monument in Lichfield Cathedral to 
the 8oth Queen's, he wrote with reference to 
their conduct in this action : — 

It is, you know, a Staffordshire regiment, having 
been raised originally by the Marquis of Anglesey, 
and has still a great number of Staffordshire men in 
its ranks. . It is a splendid corps, well-behaved in 
cantonments, and first-rate in action. I lay between 
them and my present regiment (ist E. B. Fusiliers) 
on the night of the 21st of December, at Ferozeshah, 
when Lord Hardinge called out ' 80th ! that gun 
must be silenced.^ They jumped up, formed into 
line, and advanced through the black darkness silently 
and firmly : gradually we lost the sound of their tread, 
and anxiously listened for the slightest intimation of 
their progress — all was still for five minutes, while 
they gradually gained the front of the battery whose 
fire had caused us so much loss. Suddenly we heard 
a dropping fire — a blaze of the Sikh cannon followed. 



SOBRAON. 17 

tlien a thrilling cheer from the 8oth, accompanied by 
a rattling and murderous volley as they sprang upon 
the battery and spiked the monster giin. In a few- 
more minutes they moved back quietly^ and lay down 
as before in the cold sand ; but they had left forty-five 
of their number and two captains to mark the scene of 
their exploit by their graves. 



Camp, Army of the Sutlej, 
Feb. 12th, 1846. 

The fortune of war has again interfered between 
me and my good intentions of answering all my cor- 
respondence by this mail. We have been knocked 
about for some days so incessantly that there has been 
no chance of writing anything ; and even this scrawl, 
I fear, will hardly reach you. You will hear publicly 
of our great victory of the loth,^ and of the total and 
final rout of the Sikh force. But first, I must tell 
you that the iind Grenadiers were sent back about 
a week ago to the villages and posts in our rear, to 
keep open the communication. Not liking the notion 
of returning to the rear while an enemy was in front, 
I applied immediately to do duty with another regi- 
ment; my petition was granted; and I joined the 
1 6th Grenadiers on the evening of the 9th inst. 
About three in the morning we advanced towards the 
Sikh intrenchments along the river's bank. Our guns 
and ammunition had all come up a day or two before, 
and during the night were placed in position to 
shell their camp. At daybreak, seventeen heavy mortars 
and howitzers, rockets, and heavy guns, commenced a 



* At Sobraon. 



18 SOBRAON. 

magnificent fire on their position ; at half-past eight 
the infantry advanced — Sir E,. Dick's division on the 
right, and ours (Gilbert's) in front — covered by our 
fij-e from the batteries. On we went as usual in the 
teeth of a dreadful fire of guns and musketry, and 
after a desperate struggle we got within their triple 
and quadruple intrenchments ; and then their day of 
reckoning cam'e indeed. Driven from trench to trench, 
and surrounded on all sides, they retired, fighting 
most bravely, to the river, into which they were driven 
pell-mell, a tremendous fire of musketry pouring on 
them from our bank, and the Horse Artillery finishing 
their destruction with grape. The river is literally 
choked with corpses, and their camp full of dead and 
dying. An intercepted letter of theirs shows that 
they have lost 20,000 in killed, wounded, and missing ; 
all their guns remaining in our hands. I had the 
pleasure myself of spiking two guns which were turned 
on us. Once more I have escaped, I am thankful to 
say, unhurt, except that a bullet took a fancy to my 
little finger and cut the skin ofi" the top of it — a mere 
pin scratch, though it spoiled a buckskin glove. I 
am perfectly well : we cross in a day or two, but I 
fancy have done with fighting. 



To his Sister. 

Lahore, Feb. 2'jth, 1846, 
In honour of your birthday, I suppose, we crossed 
the Sutlej on the 17th, and are now encamped close 
to old E-unjeet Singh's capital without a shot having 
been fired on this side the river ! The war is over — 
sixty days have seen the overthrow of the Sikh army. 



SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 19 

wliiclij when that period commenced, marched from 
the spot on which the victors are now encamped^ 
with no fewer than ioo_,ooo fighting men_, noio 

A broken and a routed host, 

Their standards gone, their leaders lost. 

So ends the tale of the mightiest army, and the best 
organized, which India has seen. 

I hope you will have got a scrap I wrote after the 
fight at Sobraon in hopes it would reach you before 
the newspapers, as I have no doubt you were all 
anxious enough on my account, and indeed you well 
might be, for I can hardly imagine (humanly speaking) 
how it was possible to go through that storm of 
bullets and shot unhurt. I have indeed much to be 
thankl'ul for, and I hope I shall not forget the lesson. 
A campaign is a wonderful dispeller of false notions 
and young imaginations, and seems too stern a hint 
to be soon forgotten. 

About tHs time Mr. Tliomason says, in a 
letter to my father : — 

' I biear of William constantly from friends 
' in camp, and am glad to find that he is a 

* great favourite in his regiment. I had some 

* little fear that his great superiority in age and 
' attainments to those of his ov^n standing in 
' the army might make him the object of envy 
' and disparagement. I felt that he had no 
' easy task before him, and that it would be 
' diflScult to conduct himself with discretion 
' and becoming humility in such a position. 

c % 



20 LAHORE. 

* 'He was quite aware of the difficulty when we 
' talked the matter over at Agra, and I am 

* much pleased to see the success which has 
' attended his prudent exertions.' 

Lahore, March ^th^ 1846. 

The army breaks up now very soon, but I shall 
be posted before that. I am trying to get into the 
1st European Regiment, now stationed at Umbala, 
who have just been styled Fusiliers for their distin- 
guished service. It is the finest regiment in India, 
with white faces, too, and a very nice set of ofiicers. 
I have been brigaded with them all along. 

It seems an age since the campaign opened. One 
day of fighting such as we have had fastens itself on 
the memory more than a year of peaceful life. We 
must really have a natural taste for fighting highly 
developed, for I catch myself wishing and '^ asking 
for more,^ and grumbling at the speedy settlement of 
things, and the prospect of cantonments instead of 
field service. Is it not marvellous, as if one had not 
had a surfeit of killing ? But the truth is, that is 
not the motive, but a sort of undefined ambition. 
.... I remember bursting into tears in sheer rage 
in the midst of the fight at Sobraon at seeing our 
soldiers lying killed and wounded. Don't let any of 
my friends forget me yet. I have found a new one, 
I think, in Major Lawrence,* the new President at 
this Court, thanks to the unwearying kindness of 
Mr. Thomason. 



* Sir H. Lawrence, K.C.B, 



SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 31 

In a letter of tlie same date to Hon. J. 
Thomason the following sentence occurs : — 

I must thank you very much for making me 
known to Major Lawrence^ from whom I have re- 
ceived every sort of attention and kindness. I have 
heen very much struck with his superiority _, and 
freedom from diplomatic solemnity and mystery, 
which is rather affected by the politicals and officials. 



Camp, Nuggur Ghat, on the Sutlej, 
March 2'jtli, 1846. 

The last returning regiment of the army of the 
Sutlej crossed that river yesterday morning, and by 
to-morrow every man will have left its banks, on their 
way to their stations. It was a most interesting and 
picturesque sight to see the army filing across the 
splendid bridge of boats constructed by our engineers 
at this place. So many of the native corps have been 
required for the new province and for the Lahore 
garrison, that we had hardly any but Europeans 
homeward-bound, which gave an additional and home 
interest to the passage of the river. Dusty, travel- 
stained, and tired, but with that cool, firm air of 
determination which is the most marked characteristic 
of English soldiers, regiment after regiment passed 
on, cavalry, artillery, and infantry in succession, their 
bands playing quick steps and national tunes, as each 
stepped upon the bridge. To yoit, the sight would 
have been only interesting; but to those of us who 
had seen the same corps three months ago, their 
reduced numbers and fearfully- thinned ranks told a 



22 SUTLEJ CAMPAIGN. 

sadder tale. Regiments cut down to a thirds Indi- 
vidual companies to a fourth or fifth of their former 
strength_, gave a silent but eloquent reply to the 
boastful strains of martial musiCj a,nd to the stirring 
influence of the pageant. As each regiment moved 
up on this side the river, our fine old chief addressed 
a few words of congratulation and praise to each ; 
they pushed on to their tents^ and a genuine English 
cheer^ caught up and repeated from corps to corps, 
and a thundering salute from the artillery, proclaimed 
the final dispersion, and bid an appropriate farewell 
to the army of the Sutlej. 

Thus ends my first campaign ! To-morrow I 
march with the 36th Native Infantry to Umbala, 
where I hope to be transferred to the ist Europeans. 
I was posted to the 36th a few days ago, but have 
not joined yet, as I applied at once for an exchange. 
Marching and living in tents is becoming unplea- 
santly hot now, and in another fortnight will be very 
bad. Yesterday we had a regular storm of wind and 
dust, filling everything with sand, and darkening 
the air most efiectually; one's mouth, eyes, ears, 
and pockets get filled with dust ; you sit down to 
breakfast, and your plate is ready loaded with sand, 
your cofiee is excellently thickened, and your milk 
would pass for clotted cream — but for the colour. 
Then you get a sheet of paper, and vainly imagine 
you're writing, but the sand conceals the last word 
you write ere the ink can dry, and your pens split of 
themselves with the dryness of the air. In truth, it 
is next to impossible to do anything while the storm 
lasts, for one's eyes smart and cry with the plenitude 
of grit ; and if you talk, you are set coughing with 



XJMBALA. 23 

eating small stones ! Yet all this is far better than 
tlie damp-exhaling heat of Bengal. Here the ground 
and air are as dry- by night as by day, and no exhala- 
tion poisons the freshness of any wind that may be 
stirring. 



UmbIla, April I'^th, 1846. 

Here I am once more. I am writing in a com- 
fortable house, and actually slept in one last night — 
the first time I have eaten or slept under a roof since 
the 3rd of November; and on the loth I saw a 
lady again ! 

I find General Napier has written to his brother 
about me. Scindh has been given over to the Bombay 
army, so that Sir Charles can't do anything for me, 
but still the kindness is all the same. Unfortunately, 
the note reached me three days after Sir Charles left 
the army to return to Scindh, or I might have had 
the pleasure of seeing him and speaking to him. 



Camp, Mokadabad, Rohilcund, 
April 2gth, 1846. 
It is time indeed to be getting under cover, for we 
have been in the thick of the ' hot winds.' This 
sounds a very mild word, but you should only just try 
it ! Do you remember ever holding your face over a 
stove when it was full of fire ? and the rush of hot air 
which choked you? Well, something of that sort, 
of vast volume and momentum, blowing what they 
call at sea ' half a gale of wind,' comes quietly up, at 
first behind a wall of dust, and then with a roar 
bursts upon you, scorching you, and shrivelling you 



24 CAMP LIFE. 

up as if you were 'a, rose that was plucked/ It feels 
as if an invisible^ colourless flame was playing over 
your face and limbs, scorching without burning you, 
and making your skin and hair crackle and stiffen 
until you are covered with ' crackling' like a hot roast 
pig. This goes on day after day, from about eight 
or nine o'clock in the morning till sunset; and, accom- 
panied with the full power of the blazing sun of 
India, produces an amount of heat and dryness almost 
inconceivable. The only resource is to get behind a 
tattee (or wet grass mat) hung up at one of the doors 
of the tent, and to lie on the ground with as little 
motion as possible, and endeavour to sleep or read it 
out. N^imc vetentm lihris, nunc somno et inertibus 
lions — I cannot go on, for the ^ sweet forgetfulness^ 
of the past is too much to expect ! To-day we have 
a new nuisance in the shape of a plague of wood-lice; 
our camp is pitched in an old grove of mango-trees, 
and is literally swarming with huge pale lice, in 
numbers numberless. You cannot make a step with- 
out slaying them, and they have already (noon) 
covered the whole sides of the tents, chairs, beds, 
tables, and everything. But one is really getting 
used to everything, and I hardly expect to be proud 
again. Our rest has been terribly destroyed by this 
last month's marching, the usual hour for the reveille 
being two a.m., and this morning a quarter to one ! ! 
and no power of quizzing can move om' worthy major 
to let us take it easily, though I don't scruple to tell 
him that he has sold his shadow or his soul to the 
€vil powers, and forfeited the power of sleep, he is 
such a restless animal ! We breakfast at seven, or 
even a quarter past six, constantly, and dine at seven 



HILL SCENERY. 25 

P.M. ; so one lias a fair opportunity of practising 
abstinence^ as I rigidly abstain from eating in the 
meantime, or drinking. After all, it is very healthy 
weather, and. I imagine there is less harm done to the 
health in the hot winds than even in the cold weather. 
I have never been so well in India. 



Nynee Tal, May 14th, 1846. 
I am writing from the last new Hill Station, dis- 
covered about three years ago by an adventurous 
traveller, and now containing forty houses and 
a bazaar. It is a ' taP or lake, of about a mile in 
length, lying in a basin of the mountains, about 
6300 feet above the sea; the hills rising about 1800 
feet on all sides of it, and beautifully wooded from 
their very summits down to the water's brink. How 
I got here remains to be told. You will remember 
that I had applied some time ago to be transferred 
to the Tst Bengal European Fusiliers. Well, after 
keeping me in suspense some seven weeks, and send- 
ing me the whole way from Lahore to Bareilly in 
April and May, I received notice that my application 
was granted, and a civil request to go back again. I 
had had enough of marching in the plains, and 
travelling dak would have been madness for me, 
so I determined on going up into the hills, and making 
my way across the mountain ranges to Subathoo, 
where my regiment is stationed. A good-natured 
civilian at Bareilly oflPered to take me mth him to 
this place, from whence I could make a good start. 
We started on the morning of the i ith, and drove to 
Hampoor, stayed there till midnight, and then set off 



26 



HILL SCENERY. 



for tlie liills. By dayliglit we got to the edge of the 
^ Terai/ the far-famed hot-bed of fever and tigers, 
swamps and timber, along the whole ridge of the 
Himalayas, stretching along the plains at their feet 
in a belt of about twenty miles from the Indus to the 
Burhampooter. Here we found horses awaiting us, 
and mounting at once, started for a ride of twenty- 
seven miles before breakfast. The first part of the 
' Tera? is merely a genuine Irish bog, and the oily, 
watery ditches and starved looking cows shout out 
^ Fever' on all sides of you. The last ten miles to 
the foot of the hills is through a dense mass of ragged 
trees in all stages of growth and decay, ' horrida, 
inculta, hirsuta,^ — moist, unpleasant, and ugly. At 
length we reached the first low woody ranges of the 
hills, and following the dry bed of a mountain stream, 
by noon we doubled the last ridge, and descended upon 
our lake. None of these hills are to be compared in 
beauty with Scotland and Wales, though very fine, 
and inexpressibly refreshing, almost affecting, after 
the dead flat we have lived in so long. As soon as 
my servants arrive, I start hence by myself, through 
an unfrequented sea of vast mountains, by way of 
Landour, for Mussoorie, to Simla and Subathoo. It 
is about 340 miles, and will take me thirty-two or 
thirty-four days to accomplish. I mean to take no 
pony, but trust that my old powers of walking and 
endurance will revive in the mountain air. 



CHAPTEE III. 

FIRST BENGAL EUROPEAN EUSILIERS. LAWRENCE 

ASYLUM. APPOINTMENT TO GUIDE CORPS. 

SuBATHOO, June i6th, 1846- 
TTTHEN I wrote to you last from Sireenuggur, I 
* * hoped to have been able to reach this place by way 
of the hills and Simla • but before I got to Mussoorie, 
the early setting in of the rains made it so difficult 
and unpleasant (and likely to be dangerous) to get on, 
that after spending two days there;, I rode down to 
Deyra Dhoon, and came dak through Saliarunpoor 
and Umbala to Kalka, at the foot of these hills, where 
I found my beast awaiting my arrival, and mounted 
the seventeen miles of hill at once. Here I am 
at last with my own regiment, and with the prospect 
of being quiet for four months. I am eighth Second 
Lieutenant ; a distinguished position (is it not?) at 
the age of five-and-twenty. The campaign, I am 
sorry to say, did me no good in the way of promotion, 
owing to my not having been ' posted^ permanently 
before it commenced. 



SuBAteoo, July '^rd, 1846. 
I hope you will congratulate me on getting into 
my present splendid corps, the. 1st Fusiliei's, now, 
alas, a mere shadow of what it was six months ago. 
We could only muster 256 men under arms when we 
were inspected by Sir R. Grilbert on the 1st ; but then 



28 FIRST FUSILIERS. 

there was a most picturesque body of convalescents 
present with their empty sleeves^ pale faces^ and 
crutches^ but looking proudly conscious of their good 
conduct,, and ready ' to do it again/ We are under 
much stricter discipline in this corps^ both officers and 
meUj and obliged to be orderly and submissive. No 
bad thing for us either. I hold there is more real 
liberty in being under a decent restraint than in abso- 
lute freedom from any check. I have been much 
more reconciled to India since I joined this regiment. 
It is pleasant to have white faces about one, and hear 
one^s own tongue spoken; and then, besides, there is 
a home-loving feeling in this corps which I have 
never met with in India. I believe we would each 
and all migrate to England, if we had our own way. 



To Ills FatJier. 

Simla, Sept. 2nd, 1846. 
I came here on the 31st for a week, to stay with 
Major Lawrence (now a Colonel and C.B.), who dined 
and slept with me at Subathoo last week, and 
pressed me to come here. I am nothing loth, as I 
like him amazingly, and value his friendship very 
much, and pick up a great deal of information as to 
India, and Indians black and white. He has kindly 
oflFered to take me with him for a tour through 
JuUunder Doab, and up to Jummoo, Rajah Gholab 
Singh's camp and court. He says he can give or 
get me leave to accompany him. My colonel says 
he wont give any one leave after the 14th of this 
month. Which is right remains to be seen, but 
I think you may calculate that the ' Agent to the 



VISIT TO SIMLA. 29 

Governor-General' will prevail^ and I shall see 
Jummoo. 

I am now writing in his room with the incessant 
entrances and exits of natives — rajahs^ princes, 
vakeels, &c. &c._, and officers civil and military; 
and the buzz of business and confusion of tongues, 
black and white, learned and unlearned, on all 
subjects, political, religious (at this minute they are 
disputing what Hhe Church means'), and military, 
so that I am tolerably puzzled. I have been taking a 
tremendously long walk this morning about the hills 
and valleys, with Mr. and Mrs. Currie, and enjoying 
the beauties of Simla. 



Simla, Sept. 14th, 1846. 
My original week at Simla has grown into a 
month, thanks to Colonel Lawrence's pressing, and 
Colonel Orchard's (m^ colonel's) kindness. I should 
hardly like staying so long with Colonel Lawrence 
(especially as I live day and night in the same room 
with him and his papers, regularly camp fashion), but 
that he wishes it, and I manage to give him a slight 
helping hand by making precis of his letters, and 
copying confidential papers. He is amazingly kind, 
and tells me all that is going on, initiating me 
into the mysteries of Apolitical' business, and thus 
giving me more knowledge of things and persons 
Indian than I should learn in a year of ordinary 
life, aye ! or in three years either. This is a great 
advantage to my ultimate prospects, of course inde- 
pendently of the power he possesses of giving me a 
lift in the world when I am of sufficient standing 
to hold any appointment. 



30 COLONEL LAWRENCE. 

He makes me work at Hindustanee^ and has given 
me a lesson or two in the use of the theodoHtej and 
other surveying instruments^ to the end that I may- 
get employed in the Surveying Department, after two 
years of which he says ' I shall be fit for a Political/ 
I have been very fortunate in many ways, more so 
than I had any right to expect. If I were only 
nearer to you all^ and had any old friends about me^ 
I should have nothing to regret or wish for. It is 
there that the shoe especially pinches. All minor 
annoyances are easily got rid of, but one does find a 
wonderful lack of one's old friends and old associa- 
tions. Society is very different here from ours at 
home, and different as it is I have seen very little of 
it. Nor am I, with my previous habits, age, and 
education, the person to feel this an indifferent 
matter; but on the contrary, all the drawbacks of 
Indian existence come with redoubled force from the 
greatness of the contrast. Still, I do not let these 
things annoy me, or weigh down my spirits, but 
strive, by keeping up English habits, tastes, and 
feelings, and looking forward to a run home (thus 
having a motive always in view), to make the best of 
everything as it occurs, and to act upon the principle, 
that mere outward circumstances don't make a man's 
happiness. If I have one feeling stronger than 
another, it is contempt for a ' regular Indian,' a man 
who thinks it fine to adopt a totally difierent set of 
habits and morals and fashions, until, in forgetting 
that he is an Englishman, he usually forgets also that 
he is a Christian and a gentleman. Such characters 
are happily rare now, but there are many fragments 
of it on a small scale, and always must be so, so long 



COLONEL LAWRENCE. 31 

as the men who are to support the name and power 
of England in Asia are sent out here at an age 
when neither by education nor reflection can they have 
learnt all or even a fraction of what those words 
imply. It would be a happy thing for India and for 
themselves if all came out here at a more advanced 
age than now^ but one alone breaking through the 
custom in that respect made and provided, must not 
expect to escape the usual fate, or at least the usual 
annoyances, of innovators. 

I have enjoyed my visit here very much, and 
though I have not sought them, have made one or 
two very pleasant acquaintances, or improved them. 
I have been very little out, and passed my time 
almost entirely with Colonel Lawrence and his family, 
i.e., his brother and the two sisters-in-law. Things are 
not looking well on the frontier. Cashmere and the 
hill country wont submit to Ghoolab Singh, to whom 
we gave them over, and have been thrashing his 
troops and killing his ministers ; and I expect October 
will see an army assembled to frighten them into 
submission, or interfere with a strong arm, as the case 
may be. 

We seem bound to see him established on the 
throne we carved out for him, and it is our only 
chance of keeping peace and order; though at the 
best he is such a villain, and so detested, that I 
imagine it will be but a sorry state of quietness : — 

The torrent's smoothness ere it dash below. 

In a letter to Ms wife, written during this 
visit, Sir H. Lawrence says : — 

Sejpt. ist. — 'I brought up with me from 



32 COLONEL LAWRENCE. 

Subatlioo a fine young fellow, by name 
Hodson, son of tlie Archdeacon of Stafford. 
He is now (lo p.m.) sleeping in my little 
office-room, where I am writing. Thomason 
recommended him to me, and I have seldom 
met so promising a young fellow. He left 
the native branch of the army at the expense 
of some steps, because he did not like the 
conduct of the Sepoys. He was for four 
years with Dr. Arnold, and two in the sixth 
form under his eye. He speaks most affec- 
tionately of him. I will try to get leave 
for him for a month to accompany me to 

Lahore and Jummoo in October I get 

a good deal of help from Hodson, who works 
willingly and sensibly. Perhaps you may meet 
the family at Lichfield.' 

Lahore, October i^th, 1846. 

As I hoped when I wrote last^ I am again writing 
from the capital of the 'Singhs/ but, alas for the Hions/ 
their tails are very much down in the world since 
this time last year, when the ' fierce and formidable 
army^ assembled to invade our tempting provinces. 
Nearly half the garrison has marched across the 
Ravee, and not more than 5000 or 6000 British 
troops now hold the far-famed capital of Eunjeet 
Singh. 

You must not be alarmed by the accounts you will 
see in the papers by this mail of the advance of two 
forces from Lahore and Jullunder towards Jummoo. 



JOURNEY TO CASHMERE. 33 

They are not to take any active part in the operations 
of Gholab Singh for the recovery of Cashmere from 
the rebellious Sheikh Imaumoodeen — our troops are to 
hold the Maharaja's country for him while he 
advances with his whole disposable force, augmented 
by a Sikh auxiliary army. 

It is probable that the Sheikh will give in without 
fighting as soon as he hears the preparations made 
by both Powers for his coercion. Indeed, a letter 
has arrived from Cashmere to say he has given 
in J but he is a wily fellow, and I mightily distrust 
him. I only know if / was in Cashmere with my 
army at my back, / would not give in as long as a 
man was left to pull a trigger ! The Agent (Colonel 
Lawrence) and I start to-morrow evening, going 
seventy miles the first day, and hope to reach 
Bhimbur, at the foot of the hills, on the 17th, 
thence to go up and join the Maharaja, and accom- 
pany his army to Cashmere. If he fights we shall 
see the fun; if not, we are to accompany him and 
keep him from excesses and injustice in the valley, 
and return here, I fancy, in about a month or six 
weeks. Of course, in event of the two armies coming 
to blows, it will probably be some time longer ere 
we return. I am delighted at the thoughts of seeing 
Cashmere, and am gaining great advantage from 
being with these ' politicals ' in the way of learning 
the languages, and method of governing the natives. 
I have been hard at work day and night for some 
time now, writing for Colonel Lawrence. I left 
Subathoo on the ist, and after a ride of some twenty 
miles through the hills, joined Colonel Lawrence and 
Mr. Christian, and after a shake-down in a little 

D 



34 CASHMERE. 

mud bungalow, and an amusing- dinner (served up in 
two brass basins, standing on a bed), and a breakfast 
to matcb, we rode down to Roopur, on the Sutlej. 
Here we took boat, and floated down the river to 
Ferozepore, and came across to Lahore during the 
night in a capital barouche belonging to the Ranee, 
with relays of horses and an escort of cavalry. 



Thanna, at the foot of the Pass tnto Cashmere, 

Oct. 26th, 1846. 

Our tent is pitched on the top of a little spur from 
the mountain side, and beneath us lie, in quaint 
picturesque confusion, scattered over the valley and 
the little staircase-like rice fields, the mingled hosts 
of Lahore and Jummoo. The spare stalwart Sikh, 
with his grizzled beard and blue turban of the scantest 
dimensions, side by side with the huge-limbed Aff- 
ghan, with voluminous head-gear and many-coloured 
garments. The proud Brahmin in the same ranks 
with the fierce « Children of the Faithful f the little 
active Hillman; the diminutive, sturdy, platter-faced 
Ghoorka, and the slight-made Hindoostanee, collected 
in the same tents, and all alike clothed in a caricature 
of the British uniform. I have been very much in- 
terested and amused by this march with a native 
army, so difierent from our own proceedings and 
our own military power — albeit the British army 
will soon be as varied in its composition. 

I have seen a great deal of the native Sirdars or 
chiefs, especially Tej Singh who commanded the Sikh 
forces in the war, and of the Maharaja. The former 
a small, spare little man, marked with the small-pox. 



CASHMERE. 35 

and with a thin and scanty beard^ but sharp and 
intelligent^ and by his own account a hero. The 
Maharaja is a fine^ tall^ portly man, with a splendid 
expressive face, and most gentlemanly, pleasing man- 
ner, and fine-toned voice — altogether the most pleas- 
ing Asiatic I have seen — to all appearance the 
gentlest of the gentle, and the most sincere and truth- 
ful character in the world j and in his habits he is 
certainly exemplary : but he is the cleverest hypocrite 
in the world ; as sharp and acute as possible, devoured 
by avarice and ambition, and when roused, horribly 
cruel. This latter accusation he rebuts, by alleging 
the necessity of the ease and the ferocity of those he 
has to deal with. To us, however, his fondness for 
flaying men alive, cutting off their noses and 
ears and hands, &c., savours rather of the inexcusable. 
He was accused of having flayed 12,000 men, which 
he indignantly asserted was a monstrous calumny, as 
he only skinned three ; afterwards he confessed to three 
hundred ! Yet he is not a bit worse, and in many 
ways infinitely better, than most native princes. 
Lawrence doubts whether one could be found with 
fewer faults, if placed in similar circumstances. Avit- 
abile, to the disgrace of his European blood, was far 
more cruel. The stories current in the Punjab of his 
abominations are horrible. The costumes of these 
chiefs would delight you. They never make a mistake 
in colours, and the eflect is always good, however 
bright they may be. This force is (as I told you) 
moving up to turn the Sheikh Imaumoodeen, the 
rebellious vassal of the Lahore Government, out of 
Cashmere, in virtue of the treaty ceding it to Gholab 
Singh. Up to yesterday, I expected it would be a 

D 2 



36 CASHMERE. 

fight, but yesterday the Sheikh sent letters to say 
he was sorry and repentful, and was on his way to 
tender his submission. So we wait here to receive 
him. This will not, however, prevent my visit to the 
valley, as Colonel Lawrence intends to accompany the 
Maharaja to pacify and take possession. 

It is very cold here, though not much above 5000 
feet above the sea. 



To Us Father. 

Shupyen, in Cashmere, 
Nov. 6th, 1846. 
I write a hurried line to announce my safe arrival 
in the valley. On the 1st instant we got hold of 
the rebellious Sheikh, and sent him down to the 
plains ; and yesterday, Colonel Lawrence, Captain 
Browne, and myself, rode into the valley, amid the 
acclamations of an admiring population — of beggars ! 
I am writing at sunrise in a little tent, and in spite 
of two coats and waistcoats, I am nearly ' friz.^ We 
crossed the Pir Punjal Pass on the 4th, 13,000 
feet above the sea, with snow all around us, and 
slept on this side in an old serai ; I say sle^t, because 
we went to bed ; but sleeping was out of the question, 
from the cold, and uproar of all our followers and 
their horses, crowded into a courtyard thirty feet 
square, horses and men quarrelling and yelling all 
night long. The view from the top of the Pass was 
very fine, but the wind far too high to take more 
than a peep of it without losing one's eyes ; but the 
road from Thanna to the summit was most lovely the 
whole way, winding up a glen wooded magnificently, 
and the rocks towering above us on all sides ; the 



CASHMERE. 37 

trees were all in their varied autumn dress^ sur- 
mounted by forests of pine : altogether, I never saw 
so grand a scene. As the Sheikh's submission has cut 
the Gordian knot of politics here, we shall only stay 
a few days to see the valley, and. instal the Maharaja 
(who is following us with his force by slow stages), 
and then rush back to Lahore and Subathoo. 

This is said to be the largest town but three in the 
valley. It is a poverty-stricken scattered hamlet 
of mud-houses with wooden roofs, the upper half 
being generally rough open lattice-work or railing, 
with alternate supports of unbaked bricks ; low mud 
enclosures, and open waste spaces between, dedicated 
to dogs and dunghills. The whole is thickly grown 
over with fine apple and walnut trees, the staple 
fruits (with the grape) of the valley, and the food of 
the people. They are a poor wretched set, only good 
for beasts of burden — and certainly they can carry a 
vast load — their dress, both men and women, being a 
loose wide-sleeved smock-frock of dirty sackcloth- 
looking woollen. The men wear a dirty skull-cap on 
their shaven ' nobs,^ and the women a crimson machine, 
like a flowerpot saucer inverted, from which depends 
a veil or cloth of the same texture as the frock ; legs 
and feet clothed in their native dirt. The women 
are atrociously ugly, and screech like the witches in 
Macbeth — so much so, that when the Agent asked 
me to give them a rupee or two, I felt it my duty to 
refuse, firmly but respectfully, on the ground that it 
would be encouraging ugliness ! I fancy the climate 
and the soil are unrivalled, but years of poverty and 
oppression have reduced to a nation of beggars what 
ought to be a Paradise. AVe go hence after breakfast 



38 CASHMERE. 

to Islumabad, at the eastern end of the valley; and 
spend a day or two in looking about us, and floating 
down the river to Cashmere itself, by which time our 
' prince' will have arrived. I am the luckiest dog 
unhung to have actually got into Cashmere. I fancy 
I am the first officer of our army who has been here^ 
save the few who have come officially. These delight- 
ful breezes are most invigorating. I only wish you 
could all enjoy these travels with me. I expect to be 
back at Subathoo by the ist of December. 

In a letter to my father about tliis time, 
Mr. Thomason says : — 

' I am. very glad to observe that sucli an 
' intimacy has sprung up between Colonel 
' Lawrence and your William. He could not 
' be under better direction. 

' Colonel Lawrence has evidently taken him 
' entirely into his confidence, which cannot but 
' be of the greatest use to him in his future 
' career. He will have opportunities of obser- 
' vation and instruction now, which very few 
' possess after a long period of service. To be 
' selected, too, as his confidant by a man of 
' Colonel Lawrence's stamp, is no small feather 
' in the cap of any young man. He stands 
' deservedly high also in the esteem of all who 
' know him ; and if it please God to spare his 
' life and give him health, his prospects are 
' as good as any man's can be in this country.' 

Colonel Lawrence having discovered that 



LAWRENCE ASYLUM. 39 

my brother could worh, was by no means 
disposed to let him remain without full occu- 
pation, as his next letter will show : — 

SuBATHoo, April 1st, 1847. 
I am wonderfully well and flourishing-^ and have 
lots to do. Lawrence has made me undertake the 
secretaryship of the new Asylum for European Chil- 
dren, building some ten miles hence, which will give 
me volumes of correspondence, and leagues, nay lati- 
tudes, of riding. Nevertheless, it is well, and it is a 
good work. The responsibility will be great, as a 
committee of management, on an average three hun- 
dred miles apart, are rather nominal in their super- 
vision of things. 

SuBATHOO, April 1st, 1847. 
If my locomotive instinct has been brought into 
play in India, as you suggest, my constructive organs 
are likely to have their share of exercise. I have the 
entire direction and arrangement of the new Hill 
Asylum on my hands just now. It is seven miles 
hence, of mountain roads, and what with going and 
coming, planning, instructing, and supervising, my 
time is pretty well occupied, to say nothing of my 
regiment, and private affairs. Building a house in 
India is a different affair from one's previous expe- 
riences. You begin from the forest and the quarry, 
have to get lime burnt, trees cut down, bricks 
made, planks sawn up, the ground got ready, and 
then watch the work foot by foot — showing this 
'nigger' how to lay his bricks, another the proper 
proportions of a beam, another the construction of a 
door, and to the several artisans the mysteries of a 



40 LAWRENCE ASYLUM. 

screw_, a nail, and a hinge. You cannot say to a man, 
' Make me a wall or a door/ but you must with your 
own hands measure out his work, teach him to saw 
away here, to plane there, or drive such a nail, or 
insinuate such another suspicion of glue. And when 
it comes to be considered that this is altogether new 
work to me, and has to be excuded by cogitation on 
the spot, so as to give an answer to every inquirer, 
you may understand the amount of personal exertion 
and attention required for the work. 

I have the sole direction and control of nearly four 
hundred and fifty workmen, including paying them, 
keeping accounts, drawing plans, and everything. I 
have to get earth dug for bricks, see the moulds made, 
and watch the progress of them till the kiln is full, 
get wood for the kiln, and direct the lighting of the 
same, and finally provide a goat to sacrifice to the 
demon who is supposed to turn the bricks red ! 
Then I must get bamboos and grass cut for thatching, 
and string made for the purpose; send about the 
hills for sand for mortar, and limestone to burn, see 
it mixed and prepared, and then show the niggers 
how to use it. Then the whole of the woodwork 
must be set out and made under one^s own eye, and a 
lump of iron brought from the mine to be wrought 
(also under one's direction) into nails and screws, 
before a single door can be set up ; and when to all 
this is added the difiiculty of getting hands (I mean 
in the hills), and the bother of watching the idlest 
and most cunning race on earth, you may suppose 
my ^unpaid magistracy' is no sinecure. I am not 
exaggerating or indeed telling half the difficulty, for 
fear you should think the whole a romance. You will 



LAWRENCE ASYLUM. 41 

naturally ask how I learnt all these trades. I can 
only say that you can't be more astonished than I am 
myself, and can only satisfy you by the theory that 
' necessity is the mother of invention.' I am seldom 
able to sit down from sunrise to sunset, when I get 
a hasty dinner, and am then only too glad to sleep 
off the effects of the day. How I have escaped fever 
during the last month I cannot think, as it has been 
terribly hot in the sun, even in the hills, and I have 
lived in the blaze of it pretty constantly. Colonel 
Lawrence seems determined I shall have nothing to 
stop me, for his invariable reply to every question 
is, 'Act ori your own judgment;' ''Do what you 
think right ;' ' I give you carie hlanche to act in my 
name> and draw on my funds,' and so forth. 

Are you aware of the nature of the institution ? 
It was started in idea by Colonel Lawrence some two 
or three years ago, and a sufficient sum of money for 
a commencement having been raised, he charged me 
with the erection of the necessary buildings, and the 
organization and setting in motion of the great 
machine which is to regenerate and save from moral 
and physical degradation, sickness, and death, the 
children of the British soldiers serving in India. 
The object is to teach them all things useful, while 
you give them the advantage of a healthy climate, 
removed from the evil influence of a barrack-room. 
The children are to remain in the Asylum until their 
parents return to England, or till old enough to 
join the ranks, or be otherwise provided for. 

Another drag upon my hands is the care of a small 
European boy who was lately found up in Cabul, and 
is supposed to be the son of some soldier of the 



42 LAWRENCE ASYLUM. 

destroyed army. He has been brought up as a Mussul- 
man^ and made to believe his father was such^ and is 
a very bigot. Colonel Lawrence sent him to me from 
Lahore^ but forgot to write about him^ so I know no 
more of him than I have seen in the newspapers^ and 
have no idea what to do with him, or where he is to 
go. He is rather a nuisance, and I shall be glad 
when he goes, as there is little but his odd fate to 
interest one in him ; and I have considerable doubts 
as to his genuine origin. He is more like a half- 
caste than an ' European.' Our communication is 
brief, as he speaks but little Hindoostanee and I less 
Persian. The Asylum is a much more interesting 
occupation, as independently of its object, there is 
a pleasure in covering a fine mountain with buildings 
of one's own designing. 

A fev^ days later lie writes : — 

My last few days at the Asylum were enlivened by 
the arrival of Mrs. George Lawrence, whose tent was 
pitched close to mine on the hill-top. She is a great 
acquisition in a forest life, and a very nice person — the 
wife of the Captain Lawrence who was one of the 
Cabul prisoners. She is to be superintendress until 
the arrival of the future man from England. I have 
fourteen little girls to take care of, by the same token, 
and listen to the grumblings of their nurses. In 
short, I don't know myself, and that is the long and 
short of it. I am going to Simla for a day or two, 
to see Mr. Thomasou. 

And again, to his brother : — 
The state of things is so provokingly quiet and 
placid, that there seems but small chance of our being 



LAWRENCE ASYLUM. 43 

called upon for another rusli across country (called a 
' forced march') _, like the one of December^ ^845 ; and 
one is obliged to take to anything that offers to avoid 
the '^taedium vitse' which the want of employment 
engenders in this ' lovely country/ in those^ at leasts 
who have not learnt to exist in the philosophical 
medium of brandy and cheroots. Did I tell you, 
by the bye_, that I abjured tobacco when I left 
England^ and that I have never been tempted by even 
a night 'al fresco' to resume the delusive habit ? Nor 
have I told you (because I despaired of your believing 
it) that I have declined from the paths of virtue in 
respect to beer also, this two years past, seldom or 
never even tasting that once idolized stimulant ! ! It 
has not been caused alone by a love of eccentricity, 
but by the very sensitive state of my inner man 
(achieved in India), which obliges me to live by rule. 
This is all very edifying, no doubt, to you ; to me it 
is especially so, for I believe if I get on well in India, 
it will be owing, physically speaking, to my digestion. 



SuBATHOO, June i8th, 1847. 
I am getting on famously at the Asylum just 
now, and have succeeded in getting the children 
under cover before the rains. I have narrowly 
escaped a bad fever through over -work in the sun, 
but by taking it in time I got right again. The 
weather has since taken a turn, and become much 
cooler, besides which my principal anxiety is over 
for the season. I have certainly had a benefit of 
work, both civil and literary, for the Institution, and 
since Colonel Lawrence put an advertisement in the 



44 LAWRENCE ASYLUlff. 

papers^ desiring all anxious persons to apply to me, 
I have had enough on my hands. It is all very 
well, but interferes with my reading no little ; and I 
am sure to get more kicks than thanks for my pains 
from an ungrateful and undiscerning public. How- 
ever, as long as Colonel Lawrence leaves everything 
so completely in my hands, and trusts so implicitly 
to my skill and honesty, it would be a shame not to 
work ' un-Y\k.e a nigger.' 

It is intended that the children should remain in 
the Institution until they are eighteen years of age, 
if their fathers be alive, and until somehow or other 
provided for, should they be orphans. The majority 
of the boys will, of course, become soldiers ; but my 
belief is, that having been brought up in the delight- 
ful climate of the Himalaya, • they will, after ten or 
fifteen years, settle down in the various stations and 
slightly elevated valleys in these hills, as traders and 
cultivators, and form the nucleus of the first British 
colony in India. My object is to give them English 
habits from the first, which they have in most cases 
to learn, from being brought up by native nurses 
from infancy. Part of the scheme is to make the 
Institution support itself, and I am very shortly going 
to start a farm-yard. I have already got a fine large 
garden in full swing | and here you may see French 
beans, cabbages, strawberry plants, and fine potatoes 
(free from disease). I steadfastly refuse the slightest 
dash of colour in admitting children. People may 
call this illiberal if they please ; the answer is obvious. 
Half-castes stand the climate of the plains too well 
to need a hill sanitorium, and by mixing them with 
English children you corrupt those whom you wish 



NEW APPOINTMENT. • 45 

to benefit. The little boy who was lately redeemed 
from Cabul^ and whom Colonel Lawrence consigned 
to my care, is the plague of my existence. He has 
the thoroughly lying, deceitful habits, and all the 
dirt, of the Affghan races, and not a single point of 
interest to counterbalance them. 



SuBATHoo, August, 1847. 

I have some hopes, though but faint ones, of being 
relieved from the necessity of a move to Cawnpore 
(whither his regiment had been ordered), by obtain- 
ing a berth under Colonel Lawrence. I know that 
he has asked for me, and, I believe, for an appoint- 
ment which would please me more than any other he 
could find, as being one of the most confidential 
nature, and involving constant locomotion, and plenty 
of work both for head, nerve, and body. But I must 
not be sanguine, as we have already a large pro- 
portion of officers away from the regiment, and I 
am a young soldier, though, alas ! growing grie- 
vously old in years. 

The appointment alluded to was to the 
' Corps of Gruides,' then recently organized by 
Colonel Lawrence for service in the Punjab. 
While this question, however, was still pending, 
there seemed a prospect of Lieut, Hodson's 
succeeding to the adjutancy of his regiment, 
and Colonel Lawrence, as will be seen from 
the subjoined letter, recommended his accept- 
ing it, if offered : — 



46 LETTER FROM COL. LAWRENCE. 

' Simla, Sept. nth. 

' My dear HodsoNj — I have spoken to the Governor- 
' General about you, who at once replied,, " Let him 
' take the adjutancy." He wishes you well, but is 
' puzzled by the absentee question. We are all, more- 
' over, agreed on the usefulness to yourself of being 
' employed for a time as adjutant to a regiment. 
' There are always slips, but I know of no man of 
' double or treble your standing who has so good a 
' prospect before him. Favour and partiality do occa- 
^ sionally give a man a lift, but depend upon it that his 
' is the best chance in the long run who helps himself. 
' So far you have done this manfully, and you have 
^ reason to be proud of being selected at one time for 
' three different appointments by three different men.* 
' Don't, however, be too proud. Learn your duties 
' thoroughly. Continue to study two or three hours 
' a day ; not to pass in a hurry, but that you may do 
' so two or three years hence with eclat. Take advan- 
' tage of Becher's being at Kussowlee to learn some- 
' thing of surveying. All knowledge is useful ; but to 
' a soldier, or official of any sort in India, I know 
' no branch of knowledge which so well repays the 
' student. 

' In Oriental phrase, pray consider that much is said 
' in this hurried scrawl, and believe that I shall watch 
' your career with warm interest. 

' I am, very sincerely yours, 

' H. M. Lawrence.^ 

The expected vacancy, how^ever, did not 

* At this very juncture, the Adjutant-General of the 
army had also applied for Lievit. Hodson. 



GUIDE CORPS. 47 

occur, and Colonel Lawrence accordingly re- 
newed his application for my brother's services 
in tlie Punjab, and, as will be seen, with 
success. In the beginning of October he 
writes : — 

I have every reason to expect that before many 
days I shall be gazetted as attached to the Guide 
Corps. The immediate result of my appointment 
will be a speedy departure to Lahore with Colonel 
Lawrence, who returns there to arrange matters 
before going home. 

And on the 1 6th : — 

You willj I am sure^ rejoice with me at my un- 
precedented good fortune in being appointed to a 
responsible and honourable post, almost before, by 
the rules of the service, I am entitled to take charge of 
a company of Sepoys. I shall even be better off 
than I thought ; instead of merely ' doing duty ' 
with the Guide Corps, I am to be the second in 
command. 

The next chapter will show how well Lieut. 
Hodson justified Colonel Lawrence's selection 
of him for so responsible a command, one 
which the course of events made far more 
important than could then have been foreseen. 
It was in this that he laid the foundations of 
his reputation as an ' unequalled partisan 
leader,' and acquired his experience of the 
Sikhs, and extraordinary influence over them. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

EMPLOYMENT IN THE PUNJAB AS SECOND IN COMMAND 

QE THE CORPS OF GUIDES, AND ALSO AS ASSISTANT 

TO THE RESIDENT AT LAHORE. 

From October, 1847, during the Campaign of 1848—9, to 
the Annexatio7i of the Punjab in March, 1849. 

Camp, Kussoor, Nov. i^th, 1847. 
T ALMOST forget the many events that have 
-*- happened since I wrote last : I believe I was ' at 
home ' in my snug little cottage in Subathoo, and 
now I am in a high queer-looking native house 
among the ruins of this old stronghold of the Pathans ; 
with orders ' to make a good road from Lahore to the 
Sutlej, distance forty miles/ in as brief a space as 
possible. On the willing-to-be-generally-useful prin- 
ciple this is all very well, and one gets used to 
turning one^s hand to everything, but certainly (but 
for ' circumstances over which I had no control ') I 
always laboured under the impression that I knew 
nothing at all about the matter. However, Colonel 
Lawrence walked into my room promiscuously one 
morning, and said, ^ Oh, Hodson, we have agreed that 
you must take in hand the road to Perozepoor — ^you 
can start in a day or two ; ' and Aere I am. Well, I 
have galloped across the country hither and thither, 
and peered into distances with telescopes, and 
inquired curiously into abstruse (and obtuse) angles, 
rattled Gunter's chains, and consulted compasses and 



ROAD -MAKING. 49 

theodolites, till I have an. idea of a road that will 
astonish the natives not a little. Last night I was 
up half the night, looking out for fires which I had 
ordered to be lighted in sundry places along the 
line of the Sutlej at a fixed hour that I might 
find the nearest point. This morning, I had a 
grand assembly of village ^punches/ to discuss 
with them the propriety of furnishing able-bodied 
men for the work. By a little artful persuasion, I 
succeeded in raising 700 from a small district, and 
am going onwards to hold another such ^county 
meeting' to-morrow. The mode and fashion that 
has always obtained in public works under native 
governments, has been to give an order to seize all 
the inhabitants, and make them work — and not jiay 
them, then. These gentry, therefore, have been so 
bullied by their Sikh masters, that they hardly 
believe my offers of ready-money payments. My 
predecessor, an artillery officer, who came here on 
the same errand, was turned ofi" for resorting to 
violent measures in his anxiety to get hold of work- 
men, having hung some of the head men up by the 
heels to trees till they were convinced. He got no 
good (nor hands either), by his dodge. So I was 
sent here on the other persuasion, and you will be glad 
to hear, for the credit of the family, that I am gam- 
moning the dear old punches most deliciously. They'd 
give me anything, bless their innocent hearts ! when 
I get under the village tree with them, or by the 
village well, and discourse eloquently on the blessing 
to society of having destroyed the Sikhs, and on the 
lightness of their, land tax. I hope to be relieved 
in a month, and go up to Peshawur to join ' the 

E 



50 PUNJAB. 

Guides/ for this is cruelly hard work^ and I have 
had enough for one year of native workpeople. 
Besides^ I am not strong yet^ and have a horrid cold, 
I would give anything to be able to sit down and 
read a book quietly, a luxury I have not enjoyed for 
many a long day. Colonel Lawrence starts for 
England on the 30th for two years. I hope you will 
contrive to see him, and make his acquaintance. Sir 
F. Currie is to be his successor during his absence. 

Dec. I St. 
I have been at Lahore to receive Colonel Lawrence's 
parting instructions, and say good bye to him, poor 
fellow. He is a genuinely kind-hearted mortal, and 
has been a brother to me ever since I knew him. I 
hope to see him back in two years, invigorated and 
renewed, to carry out the good work which he has 
so nobly begun. 

To Ms Sister. 

Camp Kussoor, Dec. i^th, 1847. 
Your letter met me on my road two days ago, and 
emerged from the folds of a Sikh horseman's turban, 
to my great delight. I got off my horse, and walked 
along, driving him before me till I had read the 
packet. You must not conclude, because I am writing 
to you a second time from this place, that I have been 
here ever since I first commenced operations in these 
parts. I have been twice to Lahore, and several 
times to various intermediate and more distant places, 
since then. In short, you may give up all idea of 
bfeing able to imagine where I may be at any given 
time. My work has progressed considerably. In 



ROAD-MAKING. 51 

three weeks I have collected and got into working 
order upwards of a thousand most unwilling labourers, 
surveyed and marked out some twenty miles of road 
through a desert and forest, and made a very large 
piece of it. I am happy to say I am to be relieved 
in a day or two, and sent to survey another district. 
I have had one or two visitors the last few days, and 
therefore not been so lonely as usual; but my time 
has been even more than ever occupied. My duties 
are nearly as various as there are hours in the day ; 
at one time digging a trench, at another time inves- 
tigating breaches of the peace. I am a sort of justice 
of the peace for general purposes, and have to listen 
to and inquire into complaints, and send cases which 
I think worthy of it for trial to Lahore. I caught 
as neat a case of robbing and murder the other day as 
ever graced Stafford Assizes ; to say nothing of end- 
less modes of theft, more or less open, according to 
the wealth or power of the stealer. This is the most 
remarkable scene of ruin I have met with for many a 
long day ; erst, a nest of the abodes of wealthy Pathan 
nobles, and now a desert tract, of many miles in ex- 
tent, covered with ruins, with here and there a dome, 
or cupola, or minaret, to mark what has once been. 

I am happy to say that I have succeeded in obtain- 
ing a respite on Sundays. Hitherto, all the works I 
have had in hand have gone on the same every day, 
and consequently one^s annoyance and responsibility 
continued equally on Sundays. This is happily put 
an end to, and I shall have one day's rest a week at 
least, to say nothing of higher considerations. An 
order on the subject was issued six months ago, but 
great difficulties were in the way of its execution. 



52 PUNJAB. 

Camp, Deenanuggur, Jan. ^'^th, 1848. 
Here I am, off again like a steam-engine, calling 
at a series of stations, puffing and panting, hither and 
thither, never resting, ever starting ; now in a cut- 
ting, now in a tunnel ; first in a field, next on a hill : 
thus passes day after day, week after week, a great 
deal of work going through one's hands, and yet one 
can give very little account of oneself at the end of it. 
At present I am moving rapidly along the banks of a 
small canal which traverses the Doab, between the 
Havee and Beas Rivers, for purposes of irrigation ; 
accompanying Major Napier,* to whom the prosecution 
of all public improvements throughout the Land of 
the Five Rivers belongs. We (the ' Woods and 
Forests' of the day) have nearly reached the point 
where the river debouches from the hills, and have 
put up for the day in a little garden-house of Eurtjeet 
Singh's, in the midst of a lovely grove of great extent, 
through whose dark-green boughs we have a splendid 
panorama of the snowy range to back our horizon. We 
have great projects of extending the canal by various 
branches to feed and fertilize the whole extent of the 
Doab, which wants nothing but water to make it a 
garden, so fertile is the soil. We have come along a 
strip of beautiful country, richly cultivated, lying 
along the banks of this life-giving little watercourse, 
and the weather is perfect, so I am as happy as mere 
externals can make one. Certainly we whose lot 
has fallen on this side of India, are much to be envied. 
Here, all day long one rides about, clothed as warmly, 
and even more so, than in England at this season. 



Now Sir Eobert Naj)ier, K.C.B. 



SURVEYING. 53 

enjoying the bright clear sunshine, and never troubled 
with thinking of the snn ; whilst at Calcutta they are 
running into their houses at nine o'clock to avoid the 
heat of the day ! I imagine two years iu Calcutta 
would be more wearing than ten up here; by the 
same token, I have achieved the respectable weight 
of eleven stone ten pounds, being an increase of 
seventeen pounds since July. May my shadow 
never be less ! 

I live from the arrival of one mail in expectation. 
of the next. I had meant to have written a long 
series of despatches for this opportunity, and have 
asked you to do some commissions for me, but I must 
postpone it now to another time, as Major Napier has 
lots of work for me. I want a pair of thick blankets ; 
mine were plundered at Eerozeshah, and I have 
always mourned over them since, when cold nights- 
and long marches come together. In these far 
countries it is next to impossible to get anything 
decent. 

Camp, Raja Ke Bagh, Jan. 2gih, 1848. 
For some days I was staying in, and intend return- 
ing again to, a fine picturesque old castle or fort built 
by the Emperor Shahjehan. Its lofty walls, with 
their turrets and battlements, enclose a quadrangle of 
the size of the great court of Trinity, while from the 
centre rises a dark mass of buildings three stories high, 
forming tha keep ; presenting externally four blank 
walls pierced with loopholes, but within, arches and 
pillars and galleries, with an open space in the centre, 
in which they all face. The summit rises sixty-four feet, 
which, in addition to the great elevation of the mound 



54 PUNJAB. 

on which the castle stands, gives a noble view of 
mountain, river, and plain, covered with the finest 
timber and green with young corn ; the whole backed 
by range on range, peak after peak, of dazzling snow. 
Another, nearly similar, lies about ten miles to the 
north, and I am now 'pitched^ at the foot of a third to 
the west ; all monuments of the taste and grandeur of 
the Mogul Emperors. That Goth, Runjeet Singh and 
his followers have as much to answer for in their way, 
as Cromwell and his crop-eared scoundrels in England 
and Ireland. They seem only to have conquered to 
destroy — every public work, every castle, road, serai 
or avenue, has been destroyed ; the finest mosques 
turned into powder magazines and stables, the gardens 
into cantonments, and the fields into deserts. I had 
a pretty specimen the other day of the way in which 
things have been managed here. I was desired to 
examine into, and report on, the accounts of revenue 
collected hitherto in i8o villages along the 'Shah 
Nahr,^ or Royal Canal. By a convenient mixture of 
coaxing and threats, compliment and invective, a 
return was at last efifected, by which it appeared that 
in ordinary cases about one-half the revenue reached 
the treasury, in some one-third, and in one district 
nothing I To my great amusement when I came to 
this point, the gallant collector (a long-bearded old 
Sikh) quietly remarked — ' Yes, Sahib, this was in- 
deed a great place for us entirely.' I said, ^ yes, you 
villain, you gentry grew fat on robbing your master.' 
' Don't call it robbing,' he said ; /I assure you, I 
wouldn't be dishonest for the world. I never took 
more than my predecessors did before me.' About the 



SURVEYING. 55 

most naive definition of honesty I have had the luck 
to meet with. I fancy our visit to these nooks and 
corners of the Punjab has added some 50,000^. a year 
to the revenue. My present role is to survey a part 
of the country lying along the lefj^ bank of the Ravee 
and below the hills, and I am daily and all day at 
work with compasses and chain, pen and pencil, 
following streams, diving into valleys, burrowing into 
hills, to complete my work. I need hardly remark, 
that having never attempted anything of the kind 
hitherto, it is bothering at first. But one is compelled 
to be patient under this sort of insult, and I should 
not be surprised any day to be told to build a ship, 
compose a code of laws, or hold assizes, — in fact, ^tis 
the way in India; every one has to teach himself his 
work, and do it at the same time ; if I go on learning 
new trades as fast during the remainder of my career 
as I have done at its commencement, I shall have to 
retire as a Jacksonian professor at least, when ' my 
dog has had his day.^ "Well ! I have fairly beaten 
the cold this time — I turned back one side of the tent, 
and had a big fire lighted outside, protected from 
draughts by a canvas screen, and the whole tent is 
now in a jolly glow; a gipsy light reflected on the 
trees around, and on the two tall picturesque Afighans 
who, seated cross-legged on each side of the fire, either 
replenish it with sticks, fan it into a flame, or watch 
my pen with the large, black, inquisitive eye of a dog 
looking out for a crust. 

They make much better servants for wandering 
folks like myself than the Hindoostanee servant-tribe, 
have fewer or no prejudices (save against clean 



56 PUNJAB. 

water) ^ and trudge along the live-long day as merrily 
as if life was a joke to them, instead of the dull heavy 
reality it is.* 



Feb. 2>jth, 1848. 

I really have very little to tell you of my new 
Guide Corps duties, from the somewhat strange fact 
that I have never yet actually entered upon them; 
this will soon come to an end, however, as I have 
directions to proceed to Peshawur as soon as the 
survey I have been at work on is completed. The 
grand object of the corps is to train a body of men in 
peace to be efficient in war ; to be not only acquainted 
with localities, roads, rivers, hills, ferries, and passes, 
but have a good idea of the produce and supplies 
available in any part of the country ; to give accurate 
information, not running open-mouthed to say that 



* Lieutenant (now Col.) Herbert Edwardes wrote as 
follows to his family in England : — 

' Young Hodson has been appointed to do duty with 
' our Punjab Guide Corps, commanded by Lieutenant 
' Lumsden. The duties of a Commandant or Adjutant 
' of Guides are at once important and delightful. It is 
' his duty in time of peace to fit himself for leading 
' armies during war. This necessitates his being con- 
' stantly on the move, and making himself and his 
' men acquainted with the country in every quarter, 
* In short, it is a roving commission, and to a man of 
' spirit and ability, one of the finest appointments 
' imaginable. 

' I think Hodson will do it justice. He is one of the 
' finest young fellows I know, and a thorough soldier 
' in his heart.' 



GUIDE CORPS. 57 

lo^ooo horsemen and a thousand guns are coming 
(in true native style) , but to stop to see whether it 
may not really be only a common cart and a few wild 
horsemen who are kicking up all the dust : to call 
twenty-five by its right name, and not say jifty for 
short, as most natives do. This of course wants a 
great deal of careful instruction and attention. 
Beyond this, the officers should give a tolerably correct 
sketch and report of any country through which they 
may pass, be au fait at routes and means of feeding 
troops, and above all (and here you come close upon 
political duties), keep an eye on the doings ' of the 
neighbours' and the state of the country, so as to be 
able to give such information as may lead to any out- 
break being nipped in the bud. This is the theory, 
what the practice may be I'll tell you some day or 
other when I know. Hitherto I have been making 
myself generally useful under the chief engineer, and 
learning to survey. One has to turn one's hand to 
everything if one wishes to get on. 

Meanwhile, I am busily collecting every species of 
information about the people and the land they live 
in. Hard work and fatigue, of course, but a splendid 
opening and opportunity for making oneself known 
and necessary. 

Deenanugguk, March 14th, 1848. 
The night your letter reached me, Napier (our 
chief engineer) and I were encamped on a spur of 
grass land separating two streams of the river 
* Chukkir,' and had been so for some days. That 
evening it began to rain (if a sluice of water, appa- 
rently struch down from the heavens by a flood of the 



58 TLOOD. 

fiercest lightnings can be called so), and for thirty- 
six hours the torrent descended without intermission, 
as only Asiatic storms can descend. At length a 
pause ensued, and the sky was visible, and we emerged 
from our sodden tents only to be threatened with water 
inaworseform. The hills, valleys, and mountains began 
to send down to us w^hat they had so plentifully received 
from above, and the hitherto quiet stream, whose wide 
stony channel surrounded us, was in a single hour a 
powerful torrent, tearing over the country as if to 
prove what it could do. By one of the singular freaks 
common to all tropical rivers, it dammed up one of its 
own widest outlets by the quantity of stones which 
it brought along with it, and came tearing down 
the one nearest to us. Across this, not a hundred 
yards from our tents, we had just built a powerful 
breakwater some sixteen feet wide, but the water 
quietly walked over, under, and round it; roared, 
groaned, stormed, and swelled angrily for two hours, 
and our breakwater was a Hhing of history :' meantime, 
we were gradually getting more and more surrounded 
with water, it rose and rose until only four inches 
were wanting to set us well afloat. The pegs of my 
tent-ropes were undermined, and a notice to quit was 
as plainly written on the face of the water as ever on 
a legal process. There was but one way of escape, so 
mustering the whole of a neighbouring village, we 
loaded all our valuables and moveables on their backs, 
and made a dash at the hamlet. Once having suc- 
ceeded in turning us out, the valiant Chukkir was 
content, and we slept in our tents as usual, but not 
without, as it turned out, considerable risk of finding 
ourselves landed in some unknown field on waking. 



ROBBER HUNT. 59 

Wlien this flood subsided, it appeared that the scene 
of our unfortunate dam had become the deepest part 
of the channel^ and the old course choked with stones 
and boulders which jou and I couldn^t lift in a week 
of Sundays. Is not this an incident. 

Since I wrote last, in. consequence of represen- 
tations I sent to head quarters as to the amount of 
plundering going on, a large party of horse, with one 
of the principal chiefs, was sent out here, with direc- 
tions to act on the information I gave them. We 
have accordingly had a robber-hunt on a large and 
tolerably successful scale. Numbers have been 
caught. One shot pour encourager les autres, and we 
have traces of others, so that my quiet practice 
(originall}^ for my own amusement and information) 
has been very useful to the State. I found out the 
greatest part of it by sending clever fellows disguised 
as ' faqueers ' (you know what they are, I think ; — 
religious beggars) to the diflerent villages to talk to 
the people and learn their doings* Same of the 
stories of Sikh violence^ cruelty, and treachery which 
I have picked up are almost beyond belief. The 
indifference of these people to human life is something 
appalling. I could hardly get them to give a thought 
or attempt an inquiry as to the identity of a man 
whom I found dead, evidently by violence, by the 
road-side yesterday morning y and they were horrified 
at the thought of tying up or confining a sacred ox, 
who had gored his thirteenth man the evening before 
last ! They told me plainly that no one had a right 
to complain of being hurt by so venerable a beast. 

In such pursuits, combined with surveying, my 
time passes away tolerably well. I am alone again, 



60 PUNJAB. 

Napier having gone to Lahore ; hut this is a sweet 
place^ and I am staying in a pleasant summer house 
of Runjeet Singh's^ in the midst of a fine garden or 
grove of mango and orange trees. 



Camp on Eaveb, March 2gth, 1848. 
Just as I had completed my somewhat lengthy 
reply to your question, I was interrupted by a camel- 
rider, who had come in hot haste with a letter from 
Sir F. Currie at Lahore, with the most agreeable in- 
telligence in the world — voila, 

'My dear Me,. Hodson, — Pray knock off your 
' present work, and come into Lahore as quickly as you 
' can. 

' I want to send you with Mr. Agnew to Mooltan. 
' Mr. Agnew starts immediately with your acquaint- 
' ance, Sirdah Sumshere Singh, to assume the govern- 
' ment of that province, Moolraj having sent in his 
' resignation of the Nizamut. Lieutenant Becher is 
' to be Agnew's permanent assistant, but he cannot 
' join just now, and I wish you to go with Agnew. It 
' is an important mission, and one that, I think, you 
' will like to be employed in. When relieved by 
' Becher, you will join the Guides at Lahore, and be 
' employed also as assistant to the Resident. The 
' sooner you come the better. 

' Yours sincerely, 

' F. Ctjerie.' 

The last line of Sir Frederick's letter was not lost 
on me, and to keep up my character for locomotion, I 
started at daybreak for Deenanuggur, finishing off my 
work en route, remained there the rest of the day to 



MOOLTAN. 61 

wind up matters and add my surveying sketcli to the 
large plan I had commenced beforehand, and hurried 
onwards this morning. You will perceive that I 
have crossed the Doab, and am now writing on the 
banks of the Ravee, some sixty miles above Lahore. 
I marched twenty-four and a half miles with tent 
and baggage this morning, and hope to continue 
at that pace, with the difference of marching by 
night, the weather having suddenly become very hot 
indeed. 

I am much interested in the thought of going to 
so new a place as Mooltan — new, that is to say, to 
Europeans, yet so important from position and com- 
merce. The only drawback is the heat, which is 
notorious throughout Western India. I am not 
aware, however, that it is otherwise unhealthy. 

As you may suppose, I am much gratified by the 
appointment, both for its own sake and also as 
evincing so very favourable and kindly a disposition 
toward myself on the part of the new potentate. 



To Ms Sister. 

Camp, March zgth, 1848. 
Of incidents to amuse you I have not many to 
narrate, save the usual ' moving ' ones by ' flood and 
field.^ On the iSth I was very nearly becoming a 
damp unpleasant corpse to celebrate my birthday. 
In attempting a ford, my horse sank up to the girths 
in a quicksand. I managed to extricate myself and, 
dry land being near, he got up without damage. 
Sending a man ahead, I tried again in another place. 
Here it was fair to the eye but false to the foot. 



62 PUNJAB, 

Down lie went again, this time in deeper water, and 
got me under him by struggling. However, I 
realized the old proverb, and escaped with a good 
ducking and a mouthful of my native element, rather 
gritty. Next I tried a camel, but the brute went 
down at the first stride. So giving it up in despair, I 
put on dry clothes, and then waded through the river. 
Not content with one attempt on my existence, 
the horse gave me a violent kick the same evening 
when I went up to him to ask ' How d^e do.' So I 
completed my year, in spite of myself, as it were. 

Lahore, April 2nd. 

Since the above was written, I have succeeded in 
reaching the metropolis, as you see, at a greater ex- 
penditure of animal heat and fatigue than I have 
gone through for some time. I was very friendlily 
and pleasantly greeted by Sir F. and Lady Currie, and 
tumbled at once again into the tide of civilization — ^loaf 
bread, arm-chairs, hats, and ladies — as philosophically 
as if I had been for months in the calm and unrestrained 
enjoyment of such luxuries. 

On my arrival, I found that the arrangement pro- 
posed in Sir F. Currie's note had already become 
matter of history, not of fact. The new one is still 
better for me. I am to remain at Lahore, and be an 
assistant to the Resident, having my Guide duties to 
discharge also, when Lumsden arrives from Peshawur 
with the Corps. He is expected in twenty days. 
Nothing could possibly have been better for me. I 
shall have the advantage of learning in the best 
school, head-quarters, and have many more oppor- 
tunities of making myself ' generally usefaU' I am 



LAHORE. 63 

most rejoiced at the plan^ and Sir F. Currie's con- 
siderate kindness in devising it. We wont say 
anything of the regularity or consistency of making 
a man of two and a half years^ service^ and who has 
passed no examination^ a political officer^ nor will we 
be ungrateful enough to say that he is unfit for the 
appointment^ but that he should do his utmost to 
show that the rule is more honoured '^in the breach 
than in the observance.^ 



Eesidency, Lahoke, April i6th, 1848. 
I shall not have the same variety to chronicle 
now that I seem to be fixed here^ but more interest 
and a higher style of work. Since I wrote last I 
have been six hours a day employed in court^ hearing 
petitions and appeals in all manner of cases^ civil and 
criminal^ and in matters of revenue^ as there are but 
two officers so employed. You^ perhaps, will com- 
prehend that the duty is no sinecure. It is of vast 
importance, and I -sometimes feel a half sensation of 
modesty coming over me at being set down to 
administer justice in such matters so early, and with- 
out previous training. A little practice, patience, 
and reflection settle most cases to one's satisfaction, 
howeter j and one must be content with substantial 
justice as distinguished from technical law. In any 
point of difficulty one has always an older head to 
refer to, and meantime, one has the satisfaction of 
knowing that one is independent and untrammelled 
save by a very simple code. Some things, such as 
sentencing a man to imprisonment for seven years 
for killing a cow^ are rather startling to one's ideas of 



64 MOOLTAN. 

right and wrong ; but then to kill a cow is to break a 
law, and to disturb the public peace — perhaps cause 
bloodshed ; so the law is vindicated, and one's con- 
science saved. I have many other duties, such as 
finishing my map, for which I was surveying at 
Deenanuggur; occasionally translating an official 
document ; going to Durbars, &c. ; and when the 
Guides arrive (on the 20th) I shall have to assist in 
drilling and instructing them; to say nothing of 
seeing that their quarters are prepared, and every- 
thing ready for them. I am not, therefore, idle, and 
only wish I had time to read. 

On the 35tli lie writes from Lahore : — 

I mentioned to you that Sir F. Currie's plan of 
sending me to assist Agnew at Mooltan had been 
altered, and that Anderson had gone with him in my 
stead. At the time I was disposed to be disappointed ; 
but we never know what is for our good. In this 
case I should doubtless have incurred the horrible 
fate of poor Anderson and Agnew^ Both these poor 
fellows have been barbarously murdered by the 
Mooltan troops. 

He then gives a detailed account of their 
tragical fate, and the treachery of the villain 
Moolraj, and adds : — 

The Sikh Durbar profess their inability to coerce 
their rebel subject, who is rapidly collecting a large 
array, and strengthening himself in the proverbially 
strong fort of Mooltan. 

One cannot say how it will end. The necessary 
delay of five months, till after the rains, will give 



GUIDE COUPS. 65 

time for all the disaffected to gather together, and no 
one can say how far the infection may extend. The 
Sikhs were right in saying, ' We shall have one more 
fight for it yet.' 



Lahore, May >jth. 

I expect to be busy in catching a party of rascals 
who have been trying to pervert our Sepoys by bribes 
and promises. We have a clue to them, and hope to 
take them in the act. We are surrounded here with 
treachery. No man can say who is implicated, or 
how far the treason has spread. The life of no 
British officer, away from Lahore, is worth a week's 
purchase. It is a pleasant sort of government to 
prop up, when their headmen conspire against you, 
and their troops desert you on the slightest temp- 
tation. 

Lumsden, the commandant of the Guides, and I 
want something sensible for the protection of our 
heads from sun and blows, from coiqjs cle soleil equally 
with coups cVepee. There is a kind of leathern helmet 
in the Prussian service which is light, serviceable, and 
neat. Will you try what you can do in the man- 
millinery line, and send me a brace of good helmets ? 
We don't want ornament ; in fact, the plainer the 
better, as we should always wear a turban over them, 
but strong, and light as a hat. I have no doubt your 
taste will be approved. I hope this wont be a bore 
to you, but one's head wants protecting in these 
stormy days. 

The helmets on their arrival were pro- 
nounced 'maddening.' This was the first of a 



66 GUIDE UNirOUM. 

series of commissions connected witli the 
clothing and arming of the Guide Corps, 
which was left mainly, if not entirely, in my 
brother's hands, and was a matter of much 
interest to him. The colour selected for their 
uniform was ' drab,' as most likel}/ to make 
them invisible in a land of dust. Even a 
member of the Society of Friends could 
scarcely have objected to send out drab 
clothing for 900 men, but to this succeeded 
directions to select the pattern of, and send 
out, 300 rifled carbines, which seemed scarcely 
a clerical business. The result, however, was 
satisfactory, and in the following year my 
brother wrote : — 

Many thanks for the trouble you have taken about 
the clothing for the Guides. Sir C. Napier says 
they are the only properly dressed light troops he 
has seen in India. 



Camp, Deenanugger, June ^th, 1848. 

You will hardly have been prepared to hear that I 
am once more on the move, rushing about the 
country, despite climate, heat, and rumours (the most 
alarming). 

I wrote last the day after our successful capture of 
the conspirators, whom I had the satisfaction of see- 
ing hung three days later. I then tried a slight 
fever as a variety for two days; and on the 14th 
started to ' bag' the Ranee in her abode beyond the 



THE UANEE. 67 

Ravee^ she having been convicted of comphcity in 
the designs of the conspirators. Lumsden and myself 
were deputed by the Resident to call on her^ and inti- 
mate that her presence was urgently required. A 
detachment was ordered out to support us, in case any 
resistance should be offered. Fortunately it was not 
required, as the Ranee complied at once with our 
' polite' request to come along with us. Instead of 
being taken to Lahore, as she expected, we carried 
her off to Kana Kutch, on the Ferozepoor road, where 
a party of Wheeler's Irregulars had been sent to 
receive her. It was very hard work — a long night 
march to the fort, and a fourteen hours' ride across 
to Kana Kutch, whence I had two hours' gallop into 
Lahore to report progress, making sixteen hours in 
the saddle, in May, when the nights are hot. On 
the next Sunday night I was off again, to try and 
seize or disperse a party of horse and foot collected by 
a would-be holy man, Maharaja Singh, said to amount 
to four or five hundred. I made a tremendous 
march round by Umritsur, Byrowal-Ghat on the Beas, 
and up that river's bank to Mokeria, in the Jullundur 
Doab, whence I was prepared to cross during the 
night with a party of cavahy, and attack the rascals 
unawares. Everything succeeded admirably up tr 
the last, when I found that he had received notice 
from a rogue of a native magistrate that there would 
be attempts made to seize him, when he fairly bolted 
across the Ravee, and is now infesting the Doab 
between that river and the Chenab. I have scoured 
this part of the country (which my late surveys 
enabled me to traverse with perfect ease), got posses- 
sion of every boat on the Ravee from Lahore to the 

r 2 



bo SIKH CONSPIRACY. 

Hills^ placed horsemen at every ferry^ and been 
bullying the people who supplied the Saint with 
provisions and arms. I have a regiment of Irregular 
Horse (Skinner's) with me^ and full powers to sum- 
mon more, if necessary, from the Jullundur Doab. 
Meantime, a party from Lahore are sweeping round 
to intercept the fellow, who is getting strong by 
degrees; and I am going to dash across at midnight 
with a handful of. cavalry, and see if I cannot beat up 
the country between this and Wuzeerabad. I am 
very well, hard at work, and enjoying the thing very 
much. I imagine this will be the sort of life we shall 
lead about once a week till the Punjab is annexed. 
Every native official has fraternized with the rebels 
he was ordered to catch. 



Lahore, July ^th, 1848. 

I wrote last from Deenanuggur, on the eve of 
crossing the Ravee to look after the Gooroo, Maharaja 
Singh. I remained in the Rechnab Doab some days, 
hunting up evidence and punishing transgressors. 

I was very fairly successful in obtaining informa- 
tion of the extent of the conspiracy which has been 
keeping the whole country in a ferment these two 
months past. All that has occurred is clearly 
traceable to the E-anee (now happily deported) and 
her friends, and has been carried out with a fearful 
amount of the blackest treachery and baseness. There 
have been stirring events since I wrote last. Twice 
within a fortnight has Herbert Edwardes fought and 
defeated the Mooltan rebels in pitched battles, and 
has succeeded, despite of treacherous foes and doubtful 



NIGHT MARCHES. 69 

friendsj in driving them into the fort of Mooltan. 
His success has been only less splendid than the 
energy and courage which he has shown throughout^ 
especially that high moral courage which defies re- 
sponsibility, risks, self-interest, and all else, for the 
good of the State, and which, if well directed, seems 
to command fortune and ensure success. I have been 
longing to be with him, though after my wonder- 
fully narrow escape of being murdered with poor 
Agnew at Mooltan, I may well be content to leave 
my movements in other hands. I was summoned 
into Lahore suddenly (as usual !) to take command 
of the Guides and charge of Lumsden^s duties for 
him, as she had been sent down the river towards 
Bhawulpoor. I came in the whole distance (one 
hundred miles), with bag and baggage, in sixty hours, 
which considering that one can't travel at all by day, 
and not more than four miles an hour by night, 
required a great amount of exertion and perseverance. 
It is strange that the natives always knock up sooner 
than we do on a march like this. The cavalry were 
nine days on the road, and grumbled then ! I know 
few things more fatiguing than when exhausted by 
the heat of the day, to have to mount at nightfall, 
and ride slowly throughout the night, and for the 
two most disagreeable hours of a tropical day, viz., 
those after sunrise. One night, on which I was 
making a longer march than usual, had a fearful 
effect on a European regiment moving upon Feroze- 
poor, the same hot night-wind, which had completely 
prostrated me for the time, fell upon the men as 
they halted at a well to drink; they were fairly 
beaten, and lay down for a few minutes to pant. 



70 PUNJAB. 

When tliey arose to continue their marcli^ a captain 
and nine or ten men were left dead on the ground ! 
It was the simoom of Africa in miniature. I have 
happily escaped fever or sickness of any kind, and 
have nothing to complain of but excessive weakness. 
Quinine will, I trust, soon set me up again. 



Lahore, Sei^t. ^rd, 1848. 

"We have had stirring times lately, though I 
personally have had little share in them. Mooltan 
is at last invested, and we expect daily to hear of its 
fall. Meanwhile, a new outbreak has occurred in 
Huzkra, a wild hilly region on the left bank of the 
Indus, above Attok, where one of the powerful 
Sirdars has raised the standard of revolt. 

I suppose I may say to you at so great a distance, 
what I must not breathe here, that it is now morally 
certain that we have only escaped, by what men 
call chance and accidents, the effects of a general 
and well-organized conspiracy against British supre- 
macy in Upper India. Our ' ally ' Ghoolab Singh, the 
creature of the treaty of 1848, the hill tribes, the whole 
Punjab, the chiefs of Rajpootana, and the states 
round Umbala and Kurnal, and even the King of 
Cabul, I believe, have been for months and months 
securely plotting, without our having more than the 
merest hints of local disturbances, against the supre- 
macy of the British Government. They were to 
unite for one vast effort, and drive us back upon the 
Jumna. This was to be again the boundary of British 
India. The risinor in Mooltan was to be the signal. 



SIKH CONSPIRACY. 71 

All was prepared, when a quarrel between Moolraj 
and the treacherous khan, Singh Man, who was sent 
to commence the war, spoilt their whole scheme. 
The proud Rajpoot, Ghoolab Singh, refused to follow 
in the wake of a Mooltan merchant, and the merchant 
would not yield to the soldier. We have seen the 
mere ebullitions of the storm, the bubbles which 
float at the surface. I believe that now we are safe 
from a general rising, and that the fall of Mooltan 
will put a stop to mischief. If, however, our rulers 
resort again to half measures, if a mutinous army is 
retained in existence, the evil day will return again. 
Absolute supremacy has been, I think, long demon- 
strated to be our only safety among wild and treache- 
rous races. Moderation, in the modern sense, is the 
greatest of all weakness. 



Sept. iSt/i, 1848. 

You will have seen that our troops have been hard 
at it in Mooltan, and now I have to tell you that it 
has all been in vain; Rajah Shere Singh, and the 
whole of our worthy Sikh allies, have joined the 
rebel Moolraj, and General Whish has been compelled 
to raise the siege and retire. 

I have just despatched every available Guide to 
try and get quietly into the far-famed fort of 
Govindghur, and hope in a few hours to hear of 
their success. They have forty friends inside, and 
only a few score wavering enemies. I have not a 
moment which I can call my own, and have put oft' 
this (which is merely an assurance that I am alive 
and very well) to the last moment, so as to give you 



73 GOVINDGHUR. 

the latest tidings. I am all agog at the prospect of 
stirring times^ and the only single drawback is the 
fear that you all will be very anxious. I shall not^ 
however^ run my head unnecessarily into a scrape, 
and see no cause for your frightening yourselves. 

One comfort is^ that the farce of native govern- 
ment has been played out. It was an experiment 
honestly tried, and as honestly a failure. 

A few days later he says : — 

My Guides have covered themselves with glory 
(and dust) by the way in which they got into, and got 
possession of, the famed fort of Govindghur. A 
hundred of my men, under a native officer — a fine 
lad of about twenty, whom I have petted a good 
deal — went up quietly to the gates, on pretence of 
escorting four State prisoners (whom 1 bad put in 
irons for the occasion), were allowed to get in, and 
then threw up their caps, and took possession of the 
gateway, despite the scowls, and threats, and all but 
open resistance of the Sikh garrison. A day after- 
wards a regiment marched from Lahore, and went 
into garrison there, and so Runjeet Singh^s treasure- 
fort is fairly in our hands. 



Kov. ist, 1848. 
I left Lahore — but stay, I must get there first. 
Well, I wrote from Ramniiggur, on the Chenab, last ; 
whence, after a fruitless sejoitr of six days, in the vain 
hope of meeting Mrs. George Lawrence, I returned 
suddenly to Lahore by an order which reached me 
the evening of the 5th. I started at sunset, and 
pushing my way on various borrowed steeds across 



UUNGUR NUGGTJL. 73 

that dreary region during the night, accompanied by 
a single camel-rider, I reached Lahore, a distance 
of seventy miles, by nine the following morning. 

On the 8th I was off again at daybreak on a longer 
journey still, having to cross the country to Brigadier 
Wheeler's camp in the Jullundur Doab, to convey 
orders to him relative to the reduction of two re- 
bellious forts in the Doab, between the Ravee and 
Beas. A ' grind ' of some twenty-six hours on camel- 
iacJc, with the necessary stoppages, took me to the 
camp, whence (because I had not had enough) I re- 
crossed the Beas the same night, after examining 
and reporting on the state of the ferries by M^hich the 
troops were to follow me. This time I was escorted 
by a troop of Irregular Horse, and being thereby, 
according to mi/ estimation of Sikh prowess, rendered 
tolerably independent, I marched the next morning 
for the fort of E-ungur Nuggul, some fourteen miles 
from the right bank of the Beas. 

On approaching it, and the village which covered 
one side of it, I was welcomed by a discharge of 
matchlocks, &c., as a sort of bravado, which served to 
point out exactly the range of my friends' pieces. I 
lost no time in getting the horsemen into a secure 
position (which means, one equally good for fighting 
or running away), and advanced under shelter of the 
trees and sugar-canes to within easy distance of the 
fort. Hence I despatched a message to the rebels, to 
say that if they did not come to reason within an hour, 
they should have no choice but that between cold steel 
or the gallows. The hour elapsed without result, so 
mentally consigning the garrison to annihilation, I 
set to work to reconnoitre the ground round the fort. 



74 CAPTURE or FORTS. 

This accomplished — with no further interruption than 

a shower of unpleasant bullets when 1 ventured too 

near — I sat down_, and drew a little pencil plan of the 

ground and fort^ despatched a trooper with it to the 

Brigadier^ and then retired to a little village about a 

mile off for the night. Another day and night 

passed in this precarious fashion, without (as is my 

usual fate) servants, clothes, or traps, until at leugth 

my own men (Guides) arrived from Lahore with my 

baggage and horses. I could now muster a hundred 

rifles, and eighty horsemen, so we set to work to 

invest the place, being the only way to render the 

escape of the rebels difficult or impossible. The fort, 

though very small, was immensely strong, and well 

garrisoned with desperadoes, and we had sharp work 

of it during the two nights and day which elapsed 

before the Bi-igadier* appeared with his troops. By 

keeping my men scattered about in parties, under 

cover, the superiority of their weapons enabled them to 

gall the defenders of the fort whenever they showed 

their heads, day or night, and whenever they made a 

sally they got driven back with the loss of one or 

two of their companions. At last the Brigadier 

appeared, pounded the place with his guns during the 



* Extract from Despatch o/" Brigadier Wheeler to the 
Adjutant-General. 

Camp, E-ungur Nuggul, Oct. i^th, 1848. 

' Lieut, W. S. Hodson, with his detachment of Corps 
' of Guides, has done most excellent service, and by his 
' daring boldness, and that of his men, gained the admi- 
' ration of all.' 



MORARA. 75 

day, and let the garrison escape at night. Then 
came the bore of destroying the empty fort^ a work 
which consumed a week of incessant labour, and 
forty-one mines loaded with an aggregate of 8000 
pounds of powder. Having destroyed house, fort, 
stables, and everything, and removed the grain and 
property, we at length moved on to a second fort, 
called ' Morara,^ about a mile from the left bank of the 
Ravee, near this place. I cannot now go into details of 
the second failure of the Brigadier in attempting to 
punish the rebels, for they bolted before he fired a 
shot, nor of my attempts to prevent their escape. 
I have had loads of work, what with soldiering, 
providing supplies for the force, and all the multifarious 
duties which come on the shoulders of a ' political ' 
out here. I am quite well, and the weather is lovely, 
so work is easy comparatively, and an active life like 
this is, as you know, my particular weakness. I hope 
to cross the E-avee in a few days with the troops col- 
lecting to punish the rebel (or patriot) Sikh army. 
We want Sir C. Napier sadly. What with the 
incapacity shown at Mooltan, and the dilatory pro- 
ceedings at head-quarters, our reputation is suffering 
cruelly, and every one knows that that is a stain only 
to be dyed out in blood. Every week's delay adds 
thousands to our present foes and future victims. 



To Ms Sister. 

Deenakuggur, Dec. 4th, 1848. 
You must not suppose that because I have written 
twice from this place that therefore I have been here 
all the time. On the contrary, I have been inces- 



76 ' POLITICALS.' 

sautly on the move. So mucli so as to have pretty 
nearly established a claim to the medal for discovering 
perpetual motion. I have been moving- in an orbit 
whose gyrations have been confined to a space bounded 
by the Chenab and the Beas^ and a line drawn E. and 
W. through Umritsur and Lahore. Nearly the whole^ 
of this vast ' trach^ of country has been under my 
sole charge. I have had also to feed an army daily 
of 3000 odd fighting men, 3000 odd horses, and 
14,000 to 15,000 camp followers. Also to take care 
of and work my Guides ; to point out the haunts and 
obtain information of the strength of ' the enemy/ 
and give hitn over to the tender mercies of fire and 
sword ; item, to fight him personally ; item, to destroy 
six forts, and sell by auction the property therein 
found ; item, to be civil to all comers ; item, to report 
all the said doings daily to Government; item, to 
march ten to twenty miles a day at a slow pace ; 
item, to eat, drink, dress, and sleep, to rest one- 
self from all these labours. In the above com- 
pendious epitome of the work of that much-abused 
and ill-used class called ^politicals' in India, you will, 
I trust, observe no vacant places or ' hiati'" in which 
you would expect to see inscribed, ' item, to write to 
one's friends.' No; one is a white slave, and no 
mistake ; day and night, early or late, week day or 
Sunday, one is the slave of the public, or rather of 
the Government, to a degree which cannot be credited 
iintil it is experienced. The departure of Brigadier 
Wheeler across the Beas, and therefore out of my 
beat, has made a slight break in the work, but there 
is still more than I can get through in the day. I 
am grinding my teeth all the time at being kept 



INSURGENTS. 77 

away from the scene of what must he the grand 
struggle hetween the cow-killers and cow-worship- 
pers on the banks of the Chenab. 

On the 8th of last month I marched hence to 
overtake Brigadier Wheeler and his troops^ and 
accompany them across the Ravee. On reaching 
the river^ I represented to the Brigadier (who of 
course does not know friend from foe until he is 
told) the urgent necessity of attacking a party of 
insurgents who were within fourteen miles of us, but 
could not persuade him to do so. The old gentleman 
was intent on pushing on to the main army, flatter- 
ing himself he was going to command a division of 
it. When within twenty-five or thirty miles of the 
head- quarter camp at E-amnuggur, I rode over to 
Lahore, and talked to Sir F. Currie, who was just 
despatching an express to me about these very people 
we had left unattached two days before. He sent 
me oif there and then to see the Commander-in- 
Chief, who was very polite ; asked my opinion (and 
acted on it too !) ; told me all his plans for carrying on 
the war ; and on my telling him the facts of the 
case, sent an order to the Brigadier to retrace his 
steps, and attack the party he had passed by at 
once, with something very like a rap over the 
knuckles. After a delay of some days, caused by 
a sudden counter summons to move to reinforce 
Campbell,* who was vainly expecting that the Singhs 
would fight, we at length turned back for Kulall- 
wala, the name of the fort occupied by my friends. 
We got within twenty-five miles of it on the aoth, 

* Sir Colin. 



78 CAPTURE OF rORTS. 

and I urged the Brigadier to move on like ligLtning, 
and crush them. He would not^ and began to make 
short marches^ so I was compelled to out-manoeuvre 
him loj a bold stroke. On the morning of the 31st 
I left his camp^ and pushed on some ten miles to a 
place on the straight road for Kulallwala. Here 
was a fort belonging to a doubtful Sirdar^ and I 
determined to get possession of it if possible. I had 
with me only 100 men^ and the enemy was only 
eight miles off with 4000 — rabble^ to be sure, and 
fellows who have no heart for fighting ; but the 
odds were great, and it was necessary to put a bold 
face on matters. I therefore ^ boned' the Chiefs 
two confidential servants, who were in his dwelling- 
house outside the fort, and taking one on each side of 
me, walked up to the gateway, and demanded admis- 
sion ; they hesitated, and made excuses. I signi- 
ficantly hinted that my two companions should be 
responsible if a shot was fired; the stout Sikh heart 
failed, and I was admitted. My proceeding was 
justified, and rendered most opportune by the dis- 
covery that the garrison were preparing munitions of 
war, mounting guns, and looking saucy. I turned 
them out by the same means as I had gained ad- 
mittance, viz., by hinting that if any resistance was 
made the headmen by my side were doomed. Putting 
in sixteen of my Guides to hold it until further orders, 
I took up my quarters outside for the night, and pre- 
pared to attack another small mud fort near at hand 
in the morning. 

However, my friends ran away in the night in a 
fright, and thus I had opened the road to Kulallwala 
without firing a shot. In the morning I marched 



KULALLWALA. 79 

with my little party towards the enemy, sending back a 
messenger to the Brigadier to say that I M^as close 
to the place, and that if he did not come on sharp 
they would run away or overwhelm me. He was 
dreadfully angry, but came on like a good boy ! 
When within a mile or so of the fort, I halted my 
party to allow his column to get up nearer, and as 
soon as I could see it, moved on quietly. The mse 
told to perfection ; thinking they had only loo men 
and myself to deal with, the Sikhs advanced in 
strength, thirty to one, to meet me, \vith colours 
flying and drums beating. Just then a breeze 
sprung up, the dust blew aside, and the long line 
of horsemen coming on rapidly behind my party 
burst upon their senses. They turned instantly, 
and made for the fort, so leaving my men to advance 
quietly after them, I galloped up to the Bri- 
gadier, pointed out the flying Sikhs, explained their 
position, and begged him to charge them. He melted 
from his wrath, and told two regiments of Irregulars 
to follow my guidance. On we went at the gallop, 
cut in amongst the fugitives, and punished them 
fearfully. The unfortunate wretches had cause to 
rue the day they turned rebels, for we left them 
thickly on the ground as we swept along. I had 
never charged with cavalry before, or come so directly 
into hand to hand conflict with the Sikh, save of 
course in the trenches at Sobraon. About 300 to 
400 escaped into the fort, while the remainder threw 
down their arms and dispersed over the country. 
The garrison ran away during the night, unfor- 
tunately, and we had only to take peaceful possession 
in the morning. We had killed some 350 to 300 



80 KULALLWALA. 

ofthem^ whicli will be a lesson to them^ I hope. My 
men got into the village contiguous to the fort early, 
while we pitched into those of the enemy who re- 
mained behind, to a great extent. Since then we 
have been pursuing other parties, but only came 
into collision with them to a very trifling extent 
once. They had learnt how to run away beautifully. 
The Brigadier has grown quite active, and very fond 
of me since that day at Kulallwala, though he had the 
wit to see how very ' brown I had done him ^ by making 
him march two marches in one.* 



Jan. 1849. 

I have just completed the first series of my duties 
in this Doab, by driving the last party of the insur- 
gents across the Chenab. 

As soon as I had settled matters a little at Deena- 
nuggur, and made some arrangements to prevent 
further troubles if possible,-! crossed the Ravee again, 
and got upon the track of the rebel party who had 



* Extract from an Order issued hy Beigadier-General 
Wheeler. 

'Camp, Kulallwala, Nov. 2^rd, 1848. 
' The detacliment of the Corps of Guides moved in the 
' morning direct on the village, whilst the other troops 
' were moving on the fort. It was occupied in force by 
' the enemy, who were dislodged in a most spirited manner, 
' and the place afterwards retained as commanding the 
' works of the fort, the men keeping up a sharp fire on all 
' who showed themselves. The thanks cf che Brigadier- 
' General are due to Lieut. Hodson, not only for his 

* services in the field, but for the information with which 

* he furnished him, and he offers them to him and to his 

* men.' 



GUMROLAH. 81 

given us so much trouble. On the i5th^ I heard that 
a large party had collected at a village called Gumrolah 
(near Dufferwal)^ but they had so many spies in my 
eamp^ that it was difficult to avoid their ken ; at the 
same time their tendency to run away made a surprise 
the only feasible mode of reaching them. We there- 
fore turned in as usual at night, but soon after mid- 
night I aroused my men, and got them under arms 
and off before any one was aware of our move. I 
had with me one hundred of my Guides and fifteen 
sowars. 

We marched quietly but swiftly all night, and came 
upon the insurgents just at daybreak. I had ridden 
forward about half-a-mile, with a couple of sowars, to 
reconnoitre, and got unobserved within 350 yards of 
the insurgents, numbering at least 150 horse and foot. 

They looked at me, and hesitated whether to come 
at me or not, apparently, while I beckoned to the 
remaining sowars to come up. I was in great hopes 
that they would have waited for ten minutes, by 
which time my men would have been up, with their 
rifles, and we should have given a good account of 
them. However, before five minutes had elapsed, they 
moved off sulkily like a herd of frightened deer, half 
alarmed, half in doubt. I saw at once that there was 
but one chance left, and determined to go at them as 
I was — though 15 to 150 is an imprudent attempt. 

The instant we were in motion they fled, and had 
gone half-a-mile before we could overtake them ; the 
mounted men got off, but a party of Akhalees"^ on foot 
stopped and fought us, in some instances very fiercely. 

* Fanatics. 



82 DESPERATE FIGHT. 

One fine bold ^Nihung' beat off four sowars one after 
another^ and kept them all at bay. I then went at 
him myself, fearing that he would kill one of them. 
He instantly rushed to meet me like' a tiger, closed 
with me, yelling, 'Wah Gooroo ji,^ and accompany- 
ing each ^hout with a terrific blow of his tulwar. I 
guarded the three or four first, but he pressed so 
closely to my horse's rein that I could not get a fair 
cut in return. At length I pressed in my turn upon 
him so sharply that he missed his blow, and I caught 
his tulwar backhanded with my bridle hand, wrenched 
it from him, and cut him down with the right, having 
received no further injury than a severe cut across the 
fingers ; I never beheld such desperation and fury in 
my life. It was not human scarcely. By this time 
the rest of the party had gone a long way, and as we 
had already pursued further than was prudent, where 
the spectators even were armed, and awaiting the 
result, I was obliged to halt, not without a growl at 
General Wheeler for having left me without any men. 
We had killed one more than our own number, how- 
ever, and five more were so severely wounded that they 
were removed on ' charpoys/ 

I insert here a portion of Sir F. Currie's 
despatch to the Governor- General with refe- 
rence to this affair, with the Governor- 
General's reply. 

They will show the high opinion enter- 
tained at the time of my brother's services by 
his superiors. 

'Lahoee Presidency, Jan. 6, 1849. 

' The affair at Buddee Pind was a most 



THANKS OF GOVERNMENT. 83 

' gallant one — far more so than Lieutenant 
'Hodson's modest statement in his letter 
' would lead me to suppose. I have accounts 
' from parties who were eyewitnesses to the 
' personal gallantry and energy of Lieutenant 
' Hodson, by whose hand, in single conflict, the 

* Akhalee, mentioned in paragraph 5, fell, after 

* he had beaten off four horsemen of the 15th 
' Native Cavalry, and to whose bold activity 

* and indefatigable exertions, and the admirable 

* arrangements made by him, with the small 
' means at his disposal, the successful issue of 
' this expedition is to be attributed.' 

To this his Lordship replied as follows, 
through his secretary. 

From the, Secretary to Government to Sir 
F. CuRRiE, Bart. 

'Jan. 4th, 1849. 

* I am directed to request that you will 

' convey to Lieutenant Hodson the strong 

' expression of the Grovernor-Greneral's satis- 

' faction with his conduct, and with the mode 

* in which he discharges whatever duty is en- 

* trusted to him. The Governor-Greneral has 
' had frequent occasions of noticing the activity, 
' energy, and intelligence of his proceedings, 
' and he has added to the exercise of the same 
' qualities on this occasion an exhibition of 
' personal gallantry which the Governor- 

G 2, 



84 HUNTING RAM SINGH. 

' Greneral has mucli pleasure in recording and 
' applauding, although Lieutenant Hodson has 
' modestly refrained from bringing it to notice 
' himself. The Governor-General offers to 
' Lieutenant Hodson his best thanks for these 
' services. 

(Signed) ' H. M. Elliott, 

' Secretary to the Government of India 
' with the Governor-General.'' 



Camp under the Hills on the Ravee, 
Jan. iSth, 1849. 
. . . A few days afterwardSjLumsden having joined me 
with our mounted men^ we surprised and cut to pieces 
another party of rebels, for which we have again been 
thanked by Government. Since then^ I have been 
with Brigadier-General Wheeler's force again^ employed 
in hunting after one Ram Singh and his followers^ and 
have been day and night at work — examining the hills 
and rivers, trying fords, leading columns, and doing 
all the multifarious duties thrust on that unhappy 
combination of hard work, a ' Guide ' and ^ PoHtical ' 
in one. Ram Singh's position was stormed on the i6th, 
and I had been chosen to lead one of the principal 
columns of attack; but we had to march by a cir- 
cuitous route across the hills, darkness came on, 
accompanied by dreadful rain, the rivers rose and were 
impassable, and after twenty-four hours of the most 
trying work I ever experienced, in which cold, hunger, 
and wet were our enemies, we succeeded in reach- 
ing our ground just in time to be too late ; however, 
I had done all that human nature could effect under 



HEIGHTS or DULLAH. 85 

the circumstances^ and one cannot always be success- 
ful. Two poor fellowsj one a neiDliew of Sir R. Peel's, 
were killed; otherwise the loss was trifling on our side.* 
We have just received intelligence of another great 
fight between the army under Lord Gough and the 
Sikhs^t in which the latter, though beaten, seem to 
have had every advantage given away to them. Our 
loss has been severe, andthemismanagement very dis- 
graceful, yet it will be called a victory and lauded 
accordingly. Oh for one month of Sir Charles 
Napier. 

Deenanuggur, Feb. 4th, 1849. 
I had one of my narrowest escapes two days ago ; I 
went into Lahore for a few days to see Sir H. 
Lawrence (who is again the Resident), and laid relays 
of horses along the road to this place, so as to ride in 
at once. I left Lahore on the morning of the 31st, 
and stopping at Umritsur to breakfast, reached my 
camp at nightfall, having ridden one hundred miles 
in ten hours and a half. A party of Sikhs had col- 



* Extract from an Order issued by Brigadiek-Genekal 
Wheeler, C.B., dated 

'Camp below Dullah, Jan. i^th, 1849. 

' This order cannot be closed without the expression of 
' the Brigadier-General's high opinion of the services of 
' Lieuts. Lumsden and Hodson, who have spared no 
' labour to obtain for him an accurate knowledge of the 
' mountain of Dullah and its approaches ; and Lieut. 
' Hodson has entitled himself to the sincere thanks of the 
' Brigadier-General for his endeavours to lead a column 
' to turn the enemy's position, which failed only from 
* causes which rendered success impracticable.' 
t Chillian walla, Jan. 13th, 1849. 



86 NAUROW ESCAPE. 

lected at a \'illage by the roadside to attack me and 
' polish' me off, but not calculating upon the rapidity 
of my movements^ did not expect me until the morn- 
ing. I am sorry to say that they surrounded my 
horses which were coming on quietly in the morning, 
asked for me, and finding I had escaped, stole my best 
horse (a valuable Arab, who had carried me in three 
fights), and bolted, not, however, without resistance, 
for two horsemen (Guides) of mine who were with 
the horse tried to save it. One got four wounds and 
the other escaped unhurt. Had I ridden like any 
other Christian instead of like a spectre horseman, and 
been the usual time on the road, I should have been 
' a body.' We gave chase from hence as soon as we 
heard, and rode for eleven hours and a half in 
pursuit ! which was pretty well after a hundred miles' 
ride the day before. 

But my horse it is another's. 
And it never can be mine ! 



Camp, Wuzeerabad, Feb. igth, 1849. 
I have at length reached the ' army of the Punjab,' 
almost by accident, as it were, though I was most anxious 
to be present at the final grand struggle between the 
Khalsa and the British armies. I am at present with 
my men, attached to a brigade encamped on this (the 
left) bank of the Chenab, to prevent the enemy 
crossing until Lord Gough is ready to attack them on 
the right bank, where he is now encamped with his 
whole force minus our brigade. The Sikhs quietly 
walked away from him the other day, and instead of 



BATTLE OF GOOJERAT. 87 

having their backs to the Jhelum^ passed round his 
flank, and made steadily for this place^ intending^ 
boldly enough, to march upon Lahore. I came across 
the Doab with a handful of men, and reached this 
place just as they took up a position on the opposite 
bank of the river. At the same moment a brigade 
arrived by a forced night march from Ramnuggur, 
and for the present the Sikhs have been sold. Yet 
I should not be surprised at their evading us again, 
and going off to a higher ford. The game is getting 
very exciting, and I am quite enjoying the stir and 
bustle of two large armies in the field. The grand 
finale must, one would think, come off" in a day or two. 
It is possible however that, as I say, the Sikhs may 
out-manoeuvre us and prolong the campaign. The 
Afighans have joined the Sikhs, contrary to the ex- 
pectations of every one (but myself), and there is now 
no saying where the struggle will end. 

The Afighans are contemptible in the plains, 
generally speaking ; but numbers become formidable, 
even if armed with broomsticks. 

This was written two days before tlie decisive 
engagement of Groojerat, at which he was pre- 
sent, attached to the personal staff of the 
Commander-in-Chief. His letter giving an 
account of the action was nnfortunately lost, 
but I subjoin a despatch from the Commander- 
in-Chief to the Grovernor- General : — 

'Camp, Kullala, March i^th, 1849. 
' On the re-perusal of my despatch relative to 
* the operations of February 21st at Goojerat, 



88 LOED gough's despatch. 

' I regret to find that I omitted to mention the 
' names of Lieutenants Lumsden and Hodson of 
* tlie corps of Guides, and Lieutenant Lake of 
'the Engineers, attached to the PoHtical 
' Department. These ofB.cers were most active 
'in conveying orders throughout the action, 
' and I now heg to bring their names to the 
' favourable notice of your Lordship.' 



CHAPTEE V. 

ANNEXATION OF PUNJAB. — INCREASE OF CORPS OF 
GUIDES AT PESHAWUR. TRANSFER TO CIVIL DEPART- 
MENT AS ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER. 

April I'jtJl, 1849. 

YOU will have heard of the great events of the last 
month ; how on the36thMarch,the Punjab became 
' for ever ' a British Province, governed by a Trium- 
virate ; and how the Koh-i-noor was appropriated as 
a present to the Queen — and all the rest of it : you 
may imagine the turmoil and unrest of this eventful 
time j but I defy you to imagine the confusion of the 
process which converts a wild native kingdom into 
a police-ridden and civilian-governed country, 

I had anticipated and wished for this measure. I 
did not, however, expect that it would be carried out 
so suddenly and so sweepingly as it has been, 

I have been annexed as well as the Punjab ! my 
' occupation's gone,' and although efforts have been 
and are making for my restoration to ^ the department,' 
yet at present I am shelved, I shall knovv more 
next month. Meanwhile, I am off with the new 
Commissioner to instruct him in the details of his 
province, which I had governed and won from the 
rebels during the last six months, but in which I am 
not now accounted worthy to be a humble assistant. 
There's fame ! Well, something will turn up, I sup- 
pose, I hope to remain here, however, under the 
Commissioner, for a time, that I may get acquainted 



90 ANNEXATION OF PUNJAB. 

with this wonderful civil system. It is as well to 
know how the mill works. 

I quite got fond of Lord Gough. I was his guest 
at Lahore for a month^ and his noble character and 
fire made one condone his mistakes. 

We are now on the ' qui vive ' for his successor. I 
long for Sir C. Napier^ but the Court of Directors 
seem determined to hold out. 

The Guides are at Peshawur, where I shall probably 
join them. 

Lieutenant Hodson's descent inposition upon 
the annexation of the Punjab was perhaps un- 
avoidable, though it was very natural that he 
should feel it. So soon as the country was 
placed under the government of the East India 
Company, the regulations of the service with 
regard to seniority of course took effect, and 
it was not to be expected that a subaltern of 
less than fiveyears' standing should be continued 
in so important a charge, however well qualified 
he might have proved himself for it in the most 
trying times. His position altogether had been 
a peculiar and exceptional one. 

We shall see, however, that his disappoint- 
ment did not prevent his throwing himself 
with his usual energy into whatever duties 
were assigned to him. 



PESHAWUR. 91 

To Ids Brother. 

Peshawur, May 14th, 1849. 

My stay here is very uncertain. I merely came to 
settle affairs with Lumsden relative to the increase of 
the Guides. Meantime, I have been much interested 
with my first visit to this Affghan province and to 
the Indus. You will see at once that though it gives 
us a very strong military frontier, only passable to 
armies in half a dozen points, and therefore infinitely 
less difiicult to hold than a long line of river, which is 
ever ' a silent highway for nations,' yet at the same 
time we have once more established a footing in 
Affghauistan from which there is no receding, as we 
did when we went as allies to the puppet Shah Soojah. 
Our next stride must be to Herat, I fancy ; «£^^ the / ;< c , 
day will come no man can say, but ' the uncontrollable 
principle,' which, according to Sir E,. Peel, took us 
there before, will not be the less active in its operation 
now that we have no longer the court and camp of 
Runjeet Singh between us and these wild tribes. It is 
to be hoped that ^the uncontrollable principle' will 
not appear so ver^ like an ^^controllable want of it 
as it did in days gone by ! However, go we must, 
and shall some day — so hurrah for Cabul ! 

I wish you would hit upon some plan for keeping 
me more ' au fait ' with the events of your home world. 
My time has been occupied so constantly since I came 
to India, that though I may have made some progress 
in the knowledge of men, I have made but little in 
that of books. We are sadly ofi" for military works in 
English, and few sciences require more study than 
the art of war. You might get me a list of good 
works from the 'United Service Institution' at 



92 



DRILLING GUIDES, 



Charing Cross. I want the best edition of Casar pro- 
curable; also Xenophon and Arrian. I fancy the last 
has been very well edited. 



Peshawur, June Wi, 1849. 
This is the first time I have written to you from 
Afighanistan. Who shall say whence my letters may 
be directed within a few months. Are we to advance 
on Cabul and Candahar^ and plant the Union Jack 
once more on the towers of Ghuznee ? or are we to 
lie peacefully slumbering on the banks of the Indus ? 
Are our conquests at an end ? or will it be said of Lord 
Dalhousie — 

Ultra et Garamantas efc Indos 

Proferet imperium. % , 

My own belief is, that I shall live to see both the 
places I have mentioned, and Herat, occupied by 
British troops; at least, I hope so. 

I think I told you how it had pleased the Governor- 
General to reward ' my distinguished services,^ toils, 
troubles, and dangers, by kicking me out of the coach 
altogether. Did I not ? Well, after that close to 
my civil duties, after having 'initiated'' the new 
Commissioner into his duties, I was sent up hither to 
augment recruits and train the Guides. And now 
daily, morning and evening, I may be seen standing 
on one leg to convince their AfFghan mind of the 
plausibility and elegance of the goose step. I am 
quite a serjeant-major just now, and you will well 
believe that your wandering brother is sufiiciently 
cosmopolized to drop with a certain ' aplomb ^ into 
any line of life which may turn up in the course of 



DEARTH or BOOKS. 93 

his career. I was always fond of ''soldiering/ and 
there is a sj)ecies of absurdity in dropping from the 
minister of a province into a drill- Serjeant^ which is 
enlivening. By the next mail I may have to report 
my transformation into some new animal. So ' vive 
la gloire.^ 

Peshawuk, Jtdy igth, 1849. 
I hope that you got my letter about sending me 
books. There is a remarkable dearth of them here just 
now. You know it was a flying column which came 
on here after Goojeratj composed of regiments hurried 
up to the field from Bombay^ Scinde, and Hindoostan. 
They came in light marching order. Books are not 
a part of that style of equipment. Suddenly a 
Government order consigned them to Peshawur, for 
seven months at least — lo^ooo men^ with an un- 
usually large number of Europeans and officers^ and 
no hooJcs ! Pleasant during the confinement caused by 
the hot season. I was better ofi", because^ being a 
nomad by profession, I carry a few books as a part even 
of the lightest equipment, but I have read them all 
till I am tired, except Shakspeare. Mi/ time is 
pretty fully occupied, but there are dozens of regi- 
mental officers who have not an hour's woi'k in two 
days, and I do pity them from my heart. Then of 
course there are no ladies here, and consequently no 
society, or reunions (as they are called when people 
live together), and people are pitched headlong on to 
their own resources, and find them very hard falling 
indeed! I have nothing personal to tell you, except 
that when the last mail went out I was in bed with 
a sharp attack of fever, which left me without 



94 ASSISTANT COMMISSIONERS. 

strengtli^ flesh, or appetite — a regular blazing" eastern 
feverj the sort of thing which burns so fast^ that if it 
don't stop quickly, it burns you well down into the 
socket, and leaves you there without strength to 
splutter or flicker, and you go out without the satis- 
faction of a last flare-up at expiring. I am thankful to 
say I am well again now, and picking up strength fast. 
They are increasing our corps of Guides to looo men, 
so that I shall have enough on my hands, especially 
as our Commandant leaves almost everything to me. 
Sir H. Lawrence writes from Simla that I am to be 
appointed an Assistant Commissioner under the new 
Board of Administration. I was the only one of the 
late Assistants to the Resident who was not included 
at first in the new regime. 



Lahore, Sept. grd, 1849. 
On my arrival here I found your note of iSth 
June. You may imagine how wild I was with 
pleasure at seeing your handwriting again, as I had 
been deeply anxious since the arrival of my father's 
and George's letters of the 4th June. These brought 
me the first tidings of our darling's death. Happily I 
saw no newspaper by that mail, and the black edges 
first startled me from the belief that you were all well 
and happy. The blow was a bitter one indeed, and 
its utter suddenness was appalling. Indeed, the pre- 
vailing impression on my mind for days was simple 
unbelief of the reality of that sweet child's actual 
death. I have been so long alone — home has been 
for so long a time more a pleasant dream than a 
reality — I have been for so many a weary day, as it 



NEWS OF sister's DEATH. 95 

were, dead to you all, and the sense of separation has 
grown so completely into one's being, that I find it 
difficult to separate that which it is possible to see 
again from that which is impossible. Thus it seems 
to me incredible that any greater barrier can sever 
me from this darling child than that ever-present one 
which divides me from all of you. Can you under- 
stand this ? I know it to be a delusion, and yet I 
cannot shake it off. Yet 'tis a good delusion in one 
way. It deadens the sense of the grief which the 
full realization of her death would overwhelm me with. 
I have been unfortunate again, and had a second 
sharp attack of fever since my arrival. I am about 
again, but not able to work. Sir H. Lawrence 
is very unwell : I fear that his constitution is utterly 
broken down, and that he will either have to go away 
from India for two years or more, or that another hot 
season will kill him. He is ten years older in every 
respect than he was during our Cashmere trip in 1846. 
This is a hard, wearing, dry climate, which, though pre- 
ferable to Hindoostan, is destructive to the weak and" 
sickly. It is quite sad to feel how, little by little, 
one's strength and muscle and energy fade, and how 
one can perceive age creeping in upon one so early. 



Lahore, Sept. 24th, 1849. 
You know that I have left the Guides (alas !) and 
have been transformed into a complete civilian, 
doomed to pass the rest of my career in the ad- 
ministrative and executive duties of the Government 
of this last acquisition of the ^English in India.' 
To tell the truth, I had much rather have remained 



96 commissioner's duties. 

with the Guides ; a more independent, and very far 
pleasanter life, and I think one that will in the end 
be more distinguished. However, I was guided by 
Mr. Thomason's and Sir H. Lawrence's advice, and 
must take the consequences. It would be difficult 
to define or explain the exact nature of my new 
calling, but in brief, yoa will comprehend that in 
their respective districts the Deputy-Assistant Com- 
missioners perform the whole of the judicial, fiscal, 
and magisterial duties which devolve upon the 
Government of a country in Europe, with the 
addition of collecting from the cultivators and land- 
holders the rent of all lands under cultivation 
and pasture, and the duties which in Europe 
devolve on an owner of landed property. Police, 
gaols, quarter sessions, committals to prison, jury, 
judge, excise, stamps, taxes, roads, bridges, ferries, 
woods and forests, and finally rent ! think what these 
imply, and you will form some idea of the employ- 
ment of an official in the Punjab under the ' Board of 
Administration.' I have not yet dipped very deep 
into this turbid stream of ever-recurring work, 
since the great amount of arrears consequent on the 
break-up of one Government, and the establishment 
of another, including the paying-up and discharge 
of vast civil and military establishments, have ren- 
dered it necessary to employ any available head and 
pair of hands for some months at head-quarters. 
The army has fallen to my share, and I have to 
examine into the claims of innumerable fine old 
hangers-on of the Lahore State to grants or pensions, 
to record their rights, and report on them for the 
decision of Government. Then there are upwards of 



PUNJAB BOARD. 97 

2000 old women^ wives and mothers of soldiers 
killed in war, whom I have to see and pay the pit- 
tance decreed by their masters. Lord Dalhousie and 
his secretaries and officials are stern and hard task- 
masters, and are not unworthily represented by the 
new Board, the only merciful member of which (Sir 
H. Lawrence) is left in a minority, and is, moreover, 

too ill to do much. 

. / 

Camp, Patankote, Jan. 21st, 1850. 

I at length got away from Lahore on the 7th. I 

had been ordered merely to seek change of air, but 

Sir H. Lawrence was starting on a long tour of 

inspection, and offered me the option of accompanying 

him, and doing a little work by the way, which I 

very much preferred ; so here we are, after visiting 

the sacred city of Umritsur, and the scenes of my 

last year's adventures in Butala, Deenanuggur, and 

Shahpoor, all between the E,avee and Beas ; and are 

now on our way to the mountain stations of Kangra, 

&c. We then go to the westward again, and I hope 

to see. 

Our coursers graze at ease. 
Beyond the blue Borysthenes, 

as I have dubbed the Indus, ere we again return 
to civil life, which does not suit my temperament or 
taste half as well as this more nomad life. I am 
able to ride again, though not quite with the same 
firmness in the saddle as of yore. I have no doubt, 
however, that ere we do see the 'Borysthenes,' I 
shall be as ' game ' for a gallop of one hundred miles 
on end, as I was last year at this season. 

H 



98 TJMRITSUR. 

Umritsue, March 4th, 1850. 

I am at last in a fair way of being stationary for a 
time at Umi'itsur, the sacred city of the Sikhs^ and a 
creation entirely of their genius. Lahore^ as of 
course you know^ was the old Mussulman capital^ and 
was not built by the Sikhs^ though used by them as 
the seat of government and head quarters of the 
army. Umritsur is larger than Lahore by a third or 
more of people, and half as much again of space. It 
is five miles in circumference, very strongly fortified, 
and covered by the fortress of Govindghur on the 
west, and by a large fortified garden on the north. 
I am Assistant-Commissioner under the Deputy- 
Commisioner in charge of the district, Mr. Saunders, 
a civilian, a very nice sort of fellow,' with au exceed- 
ingly pretty and nice wife. Mr. Montgomery is our 
Commissioner. I like all I have seen of him very 
much indeed. He is a very able man, and at the 
head of his service in many respects. Lahore is only 
about thirty-five mUes hence — quite within visiting 
distance in India. 

You must not talk of getting 'acclimatized.' 
There is no way of becoming so but by avoiding the 
climate as much as possible. I have had a bad time 
of it since I left Peshawur, three and a-half months 
almost entirely on my back, which reduced me 
terribly. Then just as I was getting well, the other 
day I had a fit of jaundice, which has only just left 
me : altogether, in health and in prospects I have come 
' down in my lucV to a considerable extent ; not that, 
per se, I ought, as a subaltern of not quite five years' 
service, to grumble at my present position, if I was 
now starting in the line for the first time; but I can't 



SERVICES IN PUNJAB. 99 

forget that I came into the Punjab two years and a 
half ago, and have had no little of the ' burden and 
heat of the day^ to bear, when to do so required utter 
disregard of comfort and personal safety and of rest. 
It is now two years since I was made an assistant to 
the Resident, and within a few months of that time 
I took absolute charge of a tract of country (in a state 
of war, too) comprising three modern districts, in one 
of which I am now playing third fiddle. Surely 
annexation was a ' heavy blow and a great discourage- 
ment' to me, at least. In the military line, too, I 
have been .equally unlucky, from the fact of my 
services having been with detachments instead of with 
the main army. I held my ground (and cleared it of 
the enemy, too) for weeks, with only 130 men at my 
back, and when every officer, from General Wheeler 
downwards, entreated me to withdraw and give it up ; 
I fed 5000 men and horses for six months by personal 
and unremitting exertion ; collected the revenues of 
the disturbed districts, and paid 15,000^. over and 
above, into the treasury, from the proceeds of property 
taken from the rebels. Besides this, I worked for 
General Wheeler so satisfactorily, that he has declared 
publicly that he could have done nothing without me. 
So much were the Sikhs enraged* at my proceedings, 
that party after party were sent to 'polish' me ofi", 



* Such an impression had my brother's daring and 
activity pi'oduced upon the minds of the Sikhs, that 
several years afterwards it was found that the Sikh 
mothers still used his name as a threat of terror to their 
children, reminding one of the border ballad — 
Hark ye, hark ye, do not fret ye, 
The black Douglas shall not get ye. 

H 2, 



100 SYSTEM OF PROMOTION. 

and at one time I couldn't stir about the country 
without having bullets sent at my head from every 
bush and wall. However^ I need not go on with the 
catalogue, I have been egotistical enough as it is. 
The ^ reward' for these services was losing my civil 
appointment, and being reduced to half pay or little 
more for three months, and the distinction of being 
the only subaltern mentioned in despatches for whom 
nothing has been done either 'in presenti' or 'in 
prospectu.' ' Had your name been Hay or Ramsay/ 
said General "Wheeler to me the other day, ' no 
honours, no appointments, no distinctions would have 
been considered too great to mark the services you 
have rendered to Government.' Well, we shall live 
to see more wars, or I am sadly mistaken, and then — 
I leave you to finish the sentence. 

Speaking of tlie system of tlie Indian army : — 

March i8th, 1850. 
At the age at which officers become colonels and 
majors, not one in fifty is able to stand the wear and 
tear of Indian service. They become still more worn 
in mind than in body. All elasticity is gone; all 
energy and enterprise worn out; they become, after 
a fortnight's campaign, a burden to themselves, an 
annoyance to those under them, and a terror to every 
one but the enemy ! The officer who commanded the 
cavalry brigade which so disgraced the service at 
Chillianwalla, was not able to mount a horse without 
the assistance of two men. A brigadier of infantry, 
under whom I served during the three most critical 
days of the late war, could not see his regiment 
when I led his horse by the bridle until its nose 



SYSTEM OF PROMOTION. 101 

touclied the bayonets ; and even then he said faintly, 
' Pray which way are the men faciog, Mr. Hodson ?' 
This is no exaggeration, I assure you. Can you 
wonder that our troops have to recover by desperate 
fig'htiug, and with heavy loss, the advantages thrown 
away by the want of heads and eyes to lead them ? 

A seniority service, like that of the Company, is all 
very well for poor men ; better still for fools, for 
they must rise equally with wise men ; but for main- 
taining the discipline and efficiency of the army in 
time of peace, and hurling it on the enemy in war, 
there never was a system which carried so many evils 
on its front and face. 

I speak strongly, you will say, for I feel acutely; 
though I am so young a soldier, yet the whole of 
my brief career has been spent in camps, and a year 
such as the last, spent in almost constant strife, and 
a great part of it on detached and independent com- 
mand, teaches one lessons which thirty years of 
peaceful life, of parades and cantonments, would 
never impart. 

There are men of iron, like Napier and Radetzky, 
aged men, whom nothing affects ; but they are just 
in sufficient numbers to prove the rule by establish- 
ing exceptions. Depend upon it, that for the rougb 
work of war, especially in India, your leaders must be 
young to be effective. 

If you could but see my beautiful rough and ready 
boys, with their dirt coloured clothes and swarthy 
faces, lying in wait for a Sikh, I think it would amuse 
you not a little. I must try and send you a picture 
of them. Alas ! I am no longer a ' Guide,^ but only 
a big- wig, administering justice, deciding disputes. 



102 DR. ARNOLD. 

imprisoning tMeves^ and assisting to hang highway- 
men, hke any other poor oldj fat, respectable, hum- 
drum justice of the peace in Old England 



IJmritsur, April ^th, 1850. 

I quite agree with all you say about Arnold. His 
loss was a national misfortune. Had he lived he 
would have produced an impression on men's minds 
whose effects would have been felt for ages. As it 
is, the influence which he did produce has been most 
lasting and striking in its effects. It is felt even 
in India; I cannot say more than t/iaf. 

You should come and live in India for five years if you 
wished to feel (supposing you ever doubted it) the benefit 
of our ' established' forms of Christianity. Even the 
outward signs and tokens of its profession — cathedrals, 
churches, colleges, tombs, hospitals, alms-houses — have, 
I am now more than ever convinced, an influence on 
men's minds and principles and actions which none 
but those who have been removed from their influence 
for years can feel or appreciate thoroughly. The 
more I think of this the more strongly I feel the 
effect of mere external sights and sounds on the inner 
and better man. Our Gothic buildings, our religious- 
looking churches, have, I am sure, a more restraining 
and pacifying influence than is generally believed by 
those who are habituated to them, and have never 
felt the want of them. A few cathedrals and vener- 
able-looking edifices would do wonders in our colonies. 
Here we have nothing physical to remind us of any 
creed but Islamism and Hindooism. The compara- 
tive purity of the Moslem's creed is shown admirably 



INFLUENCE OF OUTWARD FORMS. 103 

in tlie superiority in taste and form of their places of 
prayer. Christianity alone is thrust out of sight ! 
A barrack-room, a ball-room, a dining-room, per- 
haps a court of justice, serve the purpose for which 
the ' wisdom and piety of our ancestors ^ constructed 
such noble and stately temples ; feeling, justly, that 
the human mind in its weakness required . to be 
called to the exercise of devotion by the senses as 
well as by reason and will ; that separation from the 
ordinary scenes of everyday life, its cares, its toils, 
its amusements, is necessary to train the feelings and 
thoughts to that state in which religious impressions are 
conveyed. I have not seen a church for three years and 
more, nor heard the service of the Church read, save 
at intervals, in a room in which, perhaps, the night 
before, I had been crushed by a great dinner party, 
or worn out by the bustle and turmoil of suitors. 
The building in which one toils becomes intimately 
associated with the toil itself. That in which one 
prays should at least have some attribute to remind 
one of prayer. Human nature shrinks for long from, 
the thought of being buried in any but consecrated 
ground; the certainty of lying dead some day or 
other on a field of battle, or by a roadside, has, I 
have remarked, the most strange eSect on the soldier's 
mind. Depend upon it the same feeling holds good 
with regard to consecrated places of worship. You 
may think this fanciful, but I am sure you would 
feel it more strongly than I do, were you to live for a 
time in a country where everything lut religion has 
its living and existent memorials and evidences. 

But to return to reality : I have just spent three 
days in Sir Charles Napier's camp, it being my 



104 SIR C, NAPIER. 

duty to accompany him through such parts of the 
civil district as he may have occasion to visit. He 
was most kind and cordial; vastly amusing and 
interesting, and gave me even a higher opinion of 
him than before. To be sure, his language and mode 
of expressing himself savour more of the last than 
of this century — of the camp than of the court ; but 
barring these eccentricities, he is a wonderful man ; 
his heart is as thoroughly in his work, and he takes 
as high a tone in all that concerns it, as Arnold did 
in his ; that is to say, the highest the subject is 
capable of. I only trust he will remain with us as 
long as his health lasts, and endeavour to rouse the 
army from the state of slack discipline into which it 
has fallen. On my parting with him he said^ ' Now, 
remember, Hodson, if there is any way in which I 
can be of use to you, pray don't scruple to write to 
me.' I didn't show him his brother's* letter — that 
he might judge for himself first, and know me ^per 
se,' or rather ' per me ;' I will, however, if ever I see 
him again. 

* Sir W. Napier. 



CHAPTEE VT. 

toue in cashmeee and thibet with sie henry 
lawrence. — pkomotion and transfer to cis 
sutlej provinces. 

Camp, en route to Cashmere, 
June loth, 1850. 
TT'OUE, letter from Paris reached me just as I was 
-■- preparing to start from Umritsur to join Sir 
Henry Lawrence and accompany him to Cashmere. 
I fought against the necessity of leave as long as pos- 
sible, but I was getting worse and worse daily, and 
so much weakened from the effects of heat and hard- 
work acting on a frame already reduced by sickness, 
that I was compelled to be off ere worse came. We 
yesterday arrived at the summit of the first high ridge 
southward of the snowy range, and have now only 
some sixty miles to traverse before entering the valley. 
To me, travelling is life, and in a country where one 
has no home, no local attractions, and no special 
sympathies, it is the greatest comfort in the world. 
I get terribly enmiye if I am in one place for three 
months at a time ; yet I think I should be just as 
tame as ever in England, quite domestic again. 



Cashmere, July Sth, 1850. 
You would enjoy this lovely valley extremely. I 
did not know it was so beautiful, having only seen it 
before in its winter dress. Nothius: can exceed the 



106 CASHMERE. 

luxuriant beauty of the vegetation, the plane trees and 
walnuts especially, except the squalor, dirt, and 
poverty of the wretched Cashmerians. The King is 
avaricious, and is old. The disease grows on him, and 
he wont look beyond his money bags. There is a 
capitation tax on every individual practising any 
labour, trade, profession, or employment, collected 
daily. Fancy the Londoners having to go and pay a 
fourpenny and a sixpenny bit each, per diem, for the 
pleasure of living in the town. Then the tax on all 
shawls, goods, and fabrics, is about seventy-five per 
cent, including custom duty j and this the one solitary 
staple of the valley. The chief crops are rice, and of 
this, what with one half taken at a slap as ^ revenue,^ 
or rent, and sundry other pulls for dues, taxes, and 
offerings, so little remains to the farmer, that in 
practise he pays all or within a few bushels of all, his 
produce to the King, and secures in return his food, 
and that not of the best. Thus the farmer class or 
^ Zemindars^ are reduced pretty well to the state of 
day-labourers ; yet the people are all well clothed, and 
fuel is to be had for the asking. What a garden it 
might be made. Not an acre to which the finest 
water might not be conveyed without expense worth 
naming, and a climate where all produce comes to 
perfection, from wheat and barley to grapes and silk. 
We go northwards on the aoth, first to Ladakh and 
Thibet, thence to Iskardo, and then across the Indus 
to Gilghit, a terra incognita, to which, I believe, only 
one European now living has penetrated. Sir Henry 
Lawrence is not well, and certainly not up to this 
trip, but he has made up his mind to go. I do not 
gain strength as fast as I could wish, but I fancy 



THIBET. 107 

when once thorough.ly unstrung, it takes a long time 
to recover tlie wonted tone. 

We shall have another frontier war in the cold 
weather evidently, and I fancy a more prolonged and 
complete affair than the last. The cause of the only 
loss sustained in the last scrimmage was the panic of 
the Sepoys. They are as children in the hands of 
these Affghans and hill tribes. Our new Punjab 
levies fought ' like bricks,^ but the Hindoostanee is not 
a hardy enough animal, physically or morally, to eon- 
tend with the sturdier races west of the Sutlej, or the 
active and fighting ' Pathans.^ The very name sticks 
in John Sepoy's throat. I must try and see the next 
contest, but I do not quite see my way to it at 
present. 



2b Ms Sister. 

Camp, near LadIkh, August 4th, 1850. 
Who would have thought of my writing to you 
from Thibet. I am sitting in a little tent about eight 
feet long, which just takes a narrow cot, a table, and 
chair of camp dimensions, and my sac-de-nuit, gun, 
&c., and a tin box containing books, papers, and the 
materials for this present epistle. Under the same 
tree (a veritable chesnut) is Sir Henry Lawrence's 
tent, a ditto of mine, in which he is comfortably 
sleeping, as I ought to be ; outside are my pets — that 
is, a string of mules who accompany me in all 
my travels, and have also in the mountains the 
honour of carrying me as well as my baggage. The 
kitchen is under a neighbouring tree; and round a 
fire are squatting our gallant guards, a party of 



108 THIBET. 

Maharaja Ghoolab Singh's household brigade. 
Some of his people accompany us^ and what with 
followers^ a Moonshee or two for business^ and their 
followers,, I dare say we are a party of two or three 
hundred souls, of all colours and creeds — Christians, 
Mussulmans, Hindoos, Buddhists, Sikhs, and varieties 
of each. The creeds of the party are as varied as 
their colours; and that's saying a good deal, when 
you contrast my white face and yellow hair with, Sir 
Henry's nut-brown, the pale white parchmenty-colour 
of the Kashmeree, the honest brunette tinge of the 
tall Sikb, the clear olive brown of the Rajpoot, down 
through all shades of dinginess to the deep black of 
the low-caste Hindoo. I am one of the whitest men 
in India, I fancy, as instead of burning in the sun, 
I get blanched, like endive or celery. How you 
would stare at my long beard, moustache, and 
whiskers. However, to return from such personalities 
to facts. The Indus is brawling along five hundred 
feet below us, as if in a hurry to get ' out of that ; ' 
and above, one's neck aches with trying to see to the 
top of the vast craggy mountains which confine the 
stream in its rocky channel. So wild, so heaven- 
forsaken a scene I never beheld ; living nature there 
is none. In a week's journey, I have seen three 
marmots, two wagtails, and three jackdaws : and 
we have averaged twenty miles a day. 

We met a lady the other day, in the most romantic 
way possible, in tbe midst of the very wildest of glens, 
and almost as wild weather. She is a young and very 
pretty creature, gifted with the most indomitable 
energy and endurance (except as regards her husband, 
whom she can't endure, and therefore travels alone) . 



STRANGE MEETING. 109 

But conceive, that for the last three months she has 
Leen making her way on pony -back across a country 
which few men would like to traverse, over the most 
formidable passes, the deepest and rapidest rivers, 
and wildest deserts in Asia. For twenty days she 
was in the extreme wilds of Thibet, without ever 
seeing a human habitation; making such long day's 
journeys as often to be without food or bedding, 
traversing passes from sixteen to eighteen thousand 
feet above the sea where you can hardly breathe 
without pain, enduring pain, sickness, and every 
other" mortal ill, yet persevering still ! Poor 
creature, she is dying, I fear. It is evident that 
she is in a deep consumption, created by a terrible 
fall she had down a precipice, at the commencement of 
her journey. Well, one day we met her between this 
place and Cashmere. She was sixteen or twenty 
miles from her tents, and the rain and darkness 
were coming on apace; the thermometer down 
below fifty degrees. So we persuaded her to stop at 
our encampment. I gave her my tent and cot; 
acted lady's maid ; supplied her with warm stockings 
and shoes, water, towels, brushes, &c,, and made her 
comfortable, and then we sat down to dinner; and a 
pleasanter evening I never spent. She was as ga.y 
as a lark, and poured out stores of information and 
anecdotes, and recounted her adventures in the 
' spiritedest ' manner. After an early breakfast the 
next morning I put her on her pony, and she went 
on her way, and we saw her no more. I hope she will 
live to reach the end of her journey, and not die in 
some wild mountain-side unattended and alone. 



110 THIBET. 

Another letter of same date : — 

Camp, Kulsee in Ladakh, August \th, 1850. 

Until you cross the mountain chain which 

separates Cashmere from Tibet (or Thibet) ^ all is green 
and beautiful. Itis impossible to imagine a finer combi- 
nation of vast peaks and masses of mountain^ with 
green sloping lawns^ luxuriant foliage, and fine 
clustering woods, than is displayed on the sides of 
the great chain which we usually call the Himalaya, 
but which is better described as the ridge which 
separates the waters of the Jhelum, Chenab, Havee, 
and Beas from those of the Indus. When once, 
however, you have crossed this vast barrier, the scene 
changes as if by magic, and you have nothing but 
huge convulsive-looking masses of rock, tremendous 
mountains, glaciers, snow, and valleys which are more 
vast watercourses than anything else. On the more 
open and less elevated spots along these various 
feeders of the Indus, one comes to little patches of 
cultivation, rising from the banks of the rivers in 
tiers of carefully-prepared terraces, and irrigated by 
channels carried along the sides of the hill from a 
point higher up the stream. Here, in scattered 
villages ten and twenty miles apart, live the ugliest 
race on earth, I should imagine, whom we call 
Thibetians, but who style themselves ' Bhots ^ or 
' Bhods,' and unite the characteristic features, or 
rather want of them, of both Goorkhas and Chinese. 
I went yesterday to see a monastery of their Llamas, 
the most curious sight, as well as site, I ever beheld. 
Perched on the summits of a mass of sandstone-grit, 
conglomerate pudding stone, worn by the melting 
snows (for there is no rain in Tibet) into miraculous 



LLAMA MONASTERIES. Ill 

Cones, steeples, and pinnacles rising abruptly from 
the valley to the height of 600 feet, are a collection 
of queer little huts, connected together by bridges, 
passages, and staircases. In these dwell the°woi'thies 
who have betaken themselves to the life of religious 
mendicants and priests. They seem to correspond 
exactly with the travelling friars of olden times. 
Half stay at home to perform chants and services 
in their convent chapel, and half go a begging about 
the country. They are not a distinct race like the 
Brahmins of India, but each Bhot peasant devotes 
one of two or three sons to the church, and he is 
thenceforward devoted to a life of celibacy, of shaven 
crown, of crimson apparel, of mendicancy, of idle- 
ness, and of comfort. They all acknowledge spiritual 
allegiance to the great Llama at Lhassa (some two 
months^ journey from Ladakh), by whom the abbot 
of each convent is appointed on a vacancy occurring, 
and to whom all their proceedings are reported. 
Nunneries also exist on precisely the same footing. 
I saw a few of the nuns, and their hideous appearance 
fully justified their adoption of celibacy and seclusion. 
From their connexion with almost every family, as 
I have said, they are universally looked up to and 
supported as a class by the people. Even Hindoos 
reverence them ; and their power is not only feared, 
but I fancy tolerably freely exercised. Their chapel 
(a flat-roofed square building supported on pillars) 
is furnished with parallel rows of low benches 
to receive the squatting fathers. Their services 
consist of chants and recitative, accompanied by 
the discord of musical (?) instruments and drums, 
while perpetual lamps burn on the altars before 



112 LLAMA MONASTERIES. 

their idols^ and a sickly perfume fills the air. Hound 
the room are rude shelves containing numberless 
volumes of religious books; not bound^ but in sepa- 
rate leaves secured between two painted boards. I 
will try and send you one_, if I can corrupt the mind 
of some worthy Llama with profane silver. They 
are genuine hloch hooJcs, strange to say, apparently 
carved on wood, and then stamped on a Chinese 
paper. The figures of their images, and their 
costume and head-dress (i.e. of the images), are 
Chinese entirely, not at all resembling the Bhot 
dress, or scarcely so, and though fashioned by 
Thibetian hands, joxx might fancy yourself gazing on 
the figures in the Chinese Exhibition at Hyde Park 
Corner. Their language is a sealed book to me, of 
course, and though they all read and write well, yet 
they were unable to explain the meaning of the 
words they were repeating. The exterior appearance 
and sites of their conventual buildings reminded me 
very strongly of the drawings I saw in a copy of 
Curzon's Monasteries of the Levant, which fell in my 
way for five minutes one day. I need hardly say 
that, in a country composed of mountains ranging 
from 14,000 feet upwards, the scenery is magnificent 
in the extreme, though very barren and savage. 
Apricots and wheat are ripening in the valley whence 
I now write (on the right bank of the Indus, some 
fifty miles below the town of Ladakh), and snow is 
glistening on the summits above me ; the roads have 
been very easy indeed, and enabled us to make long 
day's marches, from sixteen to twentj^-five miles. 
This is more than you could do in two days in the 
ranges south of the Himalaya, with due regard for 



THIBET. 113 

your own bones^ and the cattle or porters which 
carry your traps and tents, I am very seedy, and 
twenty miles is more than I can ride with com- 
fort (that I should live to say it). I have not as 
yet derived much, if any, benefit from change of 
climate. 

From Ladakh we go to Iskardo, some twelve 
marches lower down the Indus, where it has been 
joined by the water of Yarkund; and thence to 
Gilghit, a valley running up from that of the Indus, 
still lower down, and bordering on Budakhstan. We 
(Sir Henry Lawrence and I) then return to Cashmere ; 
I expect it will be two more months' journey. We 
have already been out a fortnight, and it is very 
fatiguing. I am not sure that I was wise in under- 
taking it, but he (Lawrence) is a greater invalid than I 
am, and two or three men fought shy of the task of 
accompanying him. 



Camp, Iskardo (in Little Thibet), 
August 25iA, 1850. 

Only think of my setting down peaceably to write to 
you from this outside world. Had I lived a hundred 
years ago, I should have been deemed a great 
traveller, and considered to have explored unknown 
countries, and unknown they are, only the principal 
danger of visiting them is past, seeing that they have 
been subdued by a power (Ghoolab Singh) with whom 
we have ' relations.' Yet if I were to cross the moun- 
tains which stare me in the face a few miles ofi", I 
should be carried off and sold for a slave. It were 
vain to try to compress the scenes of a two months' 

I 



114 LADAKH. 

journey into a sheet of note-paper. We have travelled 
very rapidly. Few men go the pace Sir Henry 
Lawrence does. So we have covered a great extent 
of country in the past month ; and seeing that the 
valleys are the only inhabited parts of the country, 
the rest being huge masses of mountains, one really 
sees in these rapid flights all that is to be seen of the 
abodes of man. We have collected a good deal of 
information too, which, if 1 had time to arrange it, 
might be of value. We were eleven long days' journey 
from Cashmere to Ladakh, besides halts on the way 
at Ladakh itself, or, as the people call it, Leh. We 
remained a week, and saw all the ^foreigners' who 
came there to sell furs and silk. It is called the 
' Great Emporium' of trade between Yarkund and 
Kashgar and Llassa, and Hindoostan. Fine words 
look well on paper, but to my unsophisticated mind 
the ' leading merchants' seemed pedlars, and the 
' Emporium' to be a brace of hucksters' shops. How- 
ever, 'tis curious, that's a fact, to see (and talk to) 
a set of men who have got their goods from the 
yellow-haired Russians at the Nishni-Novogorod fair, 
and brought them across Asia to sell at Ladakh. It 
is forty days' journey of almost a continuous desert for 
these caravans from Yarkund to Leh : and there is no 
small danger to life and limb by the way. The 
current coin is lumps of Chinese syce silver of two 
pounds weight each. I bought a Persian horse for 
the journey, and paid for it in solid silver four 
pounds weight, i66 rupees, or about i6l. I shall sell 
it for double the money when the journey is over. 
Leh is a small town, of not more than 400 houses, on 
a projecting promontory of rock stretching out into 



THE BODHS. 115 

the valley formed by one of the small feeders of the 
Indus. For the people, they are Bodhs, and wear 
tails, and have flat features like the Chinese, and black 
garments. The women, unlike other Asiatics whom 
1 have seen, go about the streets openly, as in civilized 
countries ; but they are an ugly race, and withal dirty 
to an absolutely unparalleled extent. They wear no 
head-dress, but plait their masses of black hair into sun- 
dry tails halfway down their backs. Covering the divi- 
sion of the hair from the forehead back and down the 
shoulders, is a narrow leathern strap, universally adorned 
with rough turquoises and bits of gold or silver. The 
old Ranee whom we called upon had on this strap (in 
her ease a broader one, about three fingers wide) 156 
large turquoises, worth some hundreds of pounds. Over 
their ears they wear flaps of fur which project forward 
with precisely the efiect of blinkers on a horse. 

The climate is delightful ; it never rains ; the sky is 
blue to a fault, and snow only falls sparingly in winter, 
though the climate is cold, being 10,000 feet (they say) 
above the sea. In boiling water the thermometer was 
only 188°. I never felt a more exhilarating air. That 
one week quite set me up, and I have been better ever 
since. The llamas or monks, with their red cardinaPs 
hats and crimson robes, look very imposing and 
monastic, quite a travestie of the regular clergy, and 
they blow just such trumpets as fame does on monu- 
ments in country churches. Jolly friars they are, and 
fat to a man. Erom Leh we crossed the mountain 
ridge which separates the two streams of the Indus, and 
descended the northern (or right) stream to this place, 
the capital of Bultistan or Little Thibet. It is a 
genuine humbug. In the middle of a fine valley some 

I 3 



116 ISKAKDO. 

6000 feet above the sea^ surrounded by sudden rising 
perpendicular mountains 6000 feet higher_, stands an 
isolated rock washed by the Indus^ some two miles by 
three-quarters : a little Gribraltar. The valley may be 
ten miles by three^ partially cultivated, and inha- 
bited by some 200 scattered houses. There^s Iskardo. 
There ^oas a fort on the rock, but that is gone, and all, 
as usual in the East, bespeaks havoc : only nature is 
grand here. The people are Mussulmans, and not 
Bodhs, and are more human-looking, but not so well 
clad. It is warmer by far, much more so than 
it ought to be. The thermometer was at 92° 
in our tents to-day, a thing for which I cannot pos- 
sibly account, since there is snow now on all sides of 
us. We go hence across the Steppe of Deo Sole 
towards Cashmere for four days' journey, and then 
strike westward to cross the Indus into Gil ghit, whence 
we return to Cashmere by the end of September. 
We have been making very fast marches, varying from 
sixteen to thirty-two miles a day — hard work in a 
country with such roads, and where you must take 
things with you. I enjoy it very much, however, and 
after a year's sickness, the feeling of returning health 
is refreshing. I shall return to work again by the 
1st of December : but I propose paying a flying visit 
to Mr. Thomason in October, if possible ; but the dis- 
tances are so vast, and the means of locomotion so 
absent, that these things are difl&cult to achieve. I 
suppose I have seen more of the hill country now 
than ninety-nine men out of a hundred in India. 
Indeed, not above four Europeans have been here 
before. But travelling suits my restless spirit. Sir 
Henry and I get on famously together. 



INTEREST OF FORMING SOLDIERS. 117 

On October 7th, 1850, he writes from Simla 
to his father : — 

I have had a long and fatiguing march from Cash- 
mere across the mountains and the valleys of the ^ five 
rivers/ nearly four hundred miles, which I accom- 
plished in fifteen days. I left Sir Henry Lawrence 
in Cashmere. I have since heard from him_, urging 
me to use all the influence I can muster up here to 
procure a brevet majority inposse [i.e., on attaining my 
regimen.tal captaincy), and a local majority in esse for 
' my services in the late war ;' and adding, that if I 
did not find civil employment to suit me, he would, 
when I had given it a fair trial, try and get me the 
command of one of the regiments in the Punjab. I 
am going to consult Mr. Thomason on the subject, and 
will let you know the result. I hate the least suspicion 
of toadyism, and dislike asking favours, or I should 
have been better off ere now; but on Sir Henry 
Lawrence^s suggestion, I will certainly use any oppor- 
tunity which may offer. I thought, however, you 
would be gratified with the opinion which must have 
dictated so perfectly spontaneous an offer. I confess 
that I very much prefer the military line myself, al- 
though I like civil work much, and it is the road to 
competence. Nevertheless, military rank and distinc- 
tions have more charm for me than rupees ; and I 
would rather ctil my way to a name and poverty 
with the sword, than write it to wealth with the 
pen. 

There is something to me peculiarly interesting in 
the forming and training soldiers, and in acquiring 
that extraordinary influence over ^their minds, both 



118 INFLUENCE OVEE GUIDES. 

by personal volition and the aid of discipline, which 
leads them on through danger, even to death, at your 
bidding. I felt the enthusiasm of this power success- 
fully exerted with the Guides during the late war ; 
and having felt it, am naturally inclined to take ad- 
vantage of it on future occasions. - 



To his Sister. 

Simla, Oct. 21st, 1850. 
It is rather too late to tell you ' all about Cashmere,' 
as you desire ; but I can say that I saw some beauties 
this time who were really so to no common extent ; 
and that I was much more pleased with the valley 
than on my first visit, which was a winter one. If 
you see what wonderfully out of the way places we 
got into, I think you will marvel that I managed to 
write at all. We traversed upwards of fifteen hundred 
miles of wild mountainous countries, innocent of roads, 
and often for days together of inhabitants, and carry- 
ing our houses on our backs. The change to the 
utter comfort and civilization of this house was some- 
thing ^stunning ;' and I have not yet become quite re- 
conciled to dressing three times a day, black hat, 
and patent leather boots. I need hardly say, how- 
ever, that I have very much enjoyed my visit and 
my ' big talks ' with Mr. Thomason. He is very 
grey, and looks older than when I saw him in 1847, 
but otherwise he is just the same, working mag- 
nificently, and doing wonders for his province. Al- 
ready the North-West Provinces are a century in 
advance of the Bengal Proper ones. As a Gover- 
nor, he has not his equal; and in honesty, high- 



MR. THOMASON. 119 

mindedness, and indefatigable devotion to the public 
good, he is facile princejjs of the whole Indian service. 
Nor is there a household in India to match his, 
indeed, it is about the only ' big-wig ' house to which 
people go with pleasure rather than as a duty. I 
saw Sir Charles Napier, too, and dined with him 
last week. He is very kind and pleasant, and I 
am very sorry on public grounds that he is going 
away. 



KussowLEE, Nov. 4th, 1850. 
I had a most pleasant home-like visit to Mr. 
Thomason, and was most affectionately entertained. 
He will have told you of the power of civility I met 
with at Simla from the ' big-wigs,' and that even 
Lord Dalhousie waxed complimentary, and said that 
' Lumsden and Hodson were about the best men he 
had (that I write it that shouldn't !), and that he 
promised to do his best to get me a brevet majority 
as soon as I became, in the course of time, a regi- 
mental captain. And Sir Charles Napier (the 
best abused man of his day) was anxious to get 
for me the Staff appointment of Brigade-Major to the 
Punjab Irregular Force — i.e., of the six newly raised 
cavalry and infantry regiments for frontier service. 
He did not succeed, for the berth had been pre- 
viously filled up, unknown to him ; but he tried to do 
so, and that's a compliment from such a man. I hope 
I need not say that this good deed of his was as 
spontaneous as a mushroom's birth. 



120 APPOINTMENT TO CIS-SUTLEJ STATES. 



To his Father. 

KUSSOWLEE, Nov. 6th. 
I am to be here next year, I find, by tidings just 
received, whicb will be a splendid thing for my con- 
stitution. My connexion with Umritsur is dissolved 
by my having been appointed to act as personal as- 
sistant to the Commissioner of the Cis-Sutlej States, 
which is, I believe, a piece of promotion. The great 
advantages are, first, the capital opportunity it afiords 
of experience in every kind of civil work, and of 
being under a very able man — Mr. Edmonstone ; and 
secondly, that the Commissioner's head-quarters are 
' peripatetic' in the cold weather, and in the hills during 
the remainder of the year. But I confess that I 
hanker after the ' Guides ' as much as ever, and 
would catch at a good opportunity of returning to 
them with honour. I fear I have been remiss in ex- 
planations on this subject. The matter lies in this 
wise — I left the Corps, and took to civil employment 
at the advice of Sir Henry Lawrence, Mr. Thomason, 
and others, though against my own feelings on the 
subject. The man or men who succeeded me are 
senior to me in army rank. When one of them re- 
signed six months ago, I was strongly disposed and 
urged to try and succeed to the vacancy. There was 
a hitch, however, from the cause I have mentioned, and 
Lumsden was anxious that his lieutenants should 
not be disgusted by supercession. I might have had 
the appointment, but withdrew to avoid annoying 
Lumsden. Noio, both Sir Henry Lawrence and 
Mr. Thomason are very sorry that I ever left the 
Corps, and that they advised the step. Things have 



LAHORE. 121 

taken a different turn since then, and it is confessedly 
the best thing a young soldier can aspire to. I 
know that my present line is one which leads to 
more pecuniary advantages ; but the other is the finer 
field, and is far more independent. I shall work away, 
however, cheerfully in the civil line until I see a good 
opening in the other ; and then, I fear you will hardly 
persuade me that sitting at a desk with the ther- 
mometer at 98° is better than soldiering — i.e., than 
commanding soldiers made and taught by yourself! 
I will give you the earliest warning of the change. 



Umritsub, Nov. 2\th, 1850, 
I returned here on the 16th, and have been up to the 
neck in work ever since, having the whole work, civil, 
criminal, police, &c. &c., on my shoulders, Sanders, 
the Deputy Commissioner, my superior, being engaged 
dancing attendance on the Governor-General, who is 
here on his annual tour of inspection ; and Macleod, 
my CO -assistant, dead. Directly the Governor- 
General has gone onwards I shall be relieved here, and 
join my new appointment with Mr. Edmonstone. 



Lahore, Jan. 2nd, 1851. 
I broke up from Umritsur early in December, and 
came into Lahore to join my new chief. He did 
not arrive till the i8th, so I had a comparative 
holyday. I have got into harness, however, again 
now, and am up to the elbows in work and papers. 
The work is much more pleasant than that I had at 
Umritsur, and more free from mere routine. 



122 KUSSOWLEE. 

Lahore, Feb. 21st. 
This is an interesting anniversary to many of us, 
and an overwhelming one to this country — that of 
the day on which ' the bright star of the Punjab' set 
for ever. It has been curiously marked by the an- 
nouncement that the net balance of receipts over 
expenditure for the past year for the newly acquired 
provinces has reached upwards of a million sterling. 
Lord Dalhousie's star is in the ascendant. His 
financial measures are apparently all good, when tried 
by the only standard admissible in the nineteenth 
century — their success. 



KussowLEE, March 22nd, 1851. 
I broke down again most completely as soon as the 
hot weather began^ but my flight to this beautiful 
climate has wonderfully refreshed me. Talk of Indian 
luxuries ! There are but two, cold water and cool 
air ! I get on very comfortably with my new ' Chief.' 
He is a first-rate man, and has a most uncommon 
appetite for work, of which there is plenty for both 
of us. We cover a good stretch of country — com- 
prising five British districts and nine sovereign states j 
and as the whole has been in grievous disorder for 
many years, and a peculiarly diSicult population to 
deal with, you may imagine that the work is not 
slight. My principal duty is hearing appeals from 
orders and decisions by the district ofiicers in these 
five districts. It is of course not ' per se,' but as the 
Commissioner's personal assistant, that I do this. I 
prepare a short abstract, with my opinion on each case, 



soldier's PROrESSION. 123 

and lie issues his orders accordingly. I was at work 
a whole day lately over one case, which, after all, in- 
volved only a claim to about a quarter of an acre of 
land ! You will give me credit for ingenuity in 
discovering that the result of some half dozen 
quires of written evidence was to prove that neither 
of the contending parties had any right at all ! If 
that^s not 'justice to Ireland/ I don^t know what is ! 
I have been staying with Captain Douglas, and I 
hope I shall see a great deal of him. There is not 
a better man or more genuine soldier going. This 
may appear faint praise, but rightly understood, and 
conscientiously and boldly worked out, I doubt 
whether any other profession calls forth the higher 
qualities of our nature more strongly than does that 
of a soldier in times of war and tumults. Certain 
it is that it requires the highest order of man to 
be a good general, and in the lower ranks (in this 
country especially), even with all the frightful draw- 
backs and evils, I doubt whether the Saxon race is 
ever so pre-eminent, or its good points so strongly 
developed, as in the 'European^ soldier serving in 
India, or on service anywhere. 



KussowLEE, A'pril 'jth, 1851. 
I have the nicest house here on a level spot on the 
very summit of the mountain ridge, from which a most 
splendid view is obtainable for six months in the year. 
In the immediate foreground rises a round-backed 
ridge, on which stands the former work of my hands, 
the ' Lawrence Asylum ;' while to the westward, and 
down, down far off in the interminable south, the 



124 KUSSOWLEE. 

wide glistening plains of the Punjab^ streaked with 
the faint ribbon-like lines of the Sutlej and its tribu- 
taries, and the wider sea-like expanse of Hindoostan, 
stretch away in unbroken evenness beyond the limits 
of vision, and almost beyond those of faith and ima- 
gination. On the other side, you look over a mass 
of mountains up to the topmost peaks of Himalaya. 
So narrow is the ridge, that it seems as though you 
could toss a pebble from one window into the Sutlej, 
and from the other into the valley below Simla. I 
like the place very much. I have seven or eight 
hours^ work every day, and the rest is spent (as 
this one) in the society of the 6oth Eifles, the 
very nicest and most gentlemanly regiment I ever 
met with. 



KussowLEE, May dfih, 1851. 

Your budget of letters reached me on the and. It 
is very pleasant to receive these warm greetings, and 
it refreshes me when bothered, or overworked, or 
feverish, or disgusted. I look forward to a visit to 
England and liome with a pleasure which nothing but 
six years of exile can give. 

The Governor-General has at last advanced me to 
the higher grade of ^assistants' to Commissioners. 
The immediate advantage is an increase of pay — the 
real benefit, that it brings me nearer the main step of 
a Deputy-Commissioner in charge of a district. It is 
satisfactory, not the less so that it was extorted from 
him by the unanimity of my official superiors in 
pressing the point upon him, Mr. Edmonstone having 
commenced attacking him in my favour before I had 
been under him four months. I am not in love with 



KUSSOWLEE. 125 

the kind of employment — I long witli no common 
earnestness for the more military duties of my old 
friends the ' Guides ;' but I am not therefore in- 
sensible to the advantages of doing well in this line 
of work. Ambition alone would dictate this, for my 
success in this civil business (which is considered 
the highest and most arduous branch of the public 
service) almost ensures my getting on in any other 
hereafter. 



To his Father. 

KuSSOWIiEE, Oct. 20th, 1 85 1. 

I am much stronger now, and improving rapidly. 
By the end of next summer I hope to be as strong 
as I ever hope to be again. That I shall ever again 
be able to row from Cambridge to Ely in two hours 
and ten minutes, to run a mile in five minutes, or 
to walk from Skye (or Kyle Hatren Ferry) to Inver- 
ness in thirty hours, is not to be expected, or perhaps 
desired. But I have every hope that in the event of 
another war I may be able to endure fatigue and ex- 
posure as freely as in 1848. One is oftener called 
upon to ride than to walk long distances in India. 
In 1848, I could ride one hundred miles in ten hours, 
fully accoutred, and I don't care how soon (saving 
your presence !) the necessity arises again ! I have 
no doubt that matrimony will do me a power of 
good, and that I shall be not only better, but happier 
and more care-less than hitherto. 

I have been deeply grieved and afiected by the 
death, two days ago, of Colonel Bradshaw, of the 60th 
Bifles. He will be a sad loss, not only to his regi- 



126 COLONEL BRADSHAW. 

ment, but to the army and the country. He was the 
beau ideal of an English soldier and gentleman, and 
would have earned himself a name as a general had 
he been spared. A finer and nobler spirit there was 
not in the army. I feel it as a deep personal loss, 
for he won my esteem and regard in no common 
degree. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

MAEEIAGE. COMMAND OP THE GUIDES. FRONTIEE 

WARFARE, MURDAN. 

f\N the 5tli of January, 1852, Lieut. Hodson 
^ was married, at the Cathedral, Calcutta, to 
Susan, daughter of Capt. C. Henry, E.N., and 
widow of John Mitford, Esq., of Exbury, 
Hants. By the first week in March he had 
resumed his duties at Kussowlee as Assistant 
Commissioner. On the breaking out of the 
war with Burmah he expected to rejoin his 
regiment (the Eirst Bengal European Eusiliers), 
which had been ordered for service there, but in 
August he writes from Kussowlee : — 

My regiment is on its way down the Ganges to 
Calcutta, to take part in the war, but the Burmese 
have proved so very unformidable an enemy this time, 
that only half the intended force is to be sent on 
from Calcutta ; the rest being held in reserve. 
Under these circumstances, and in the expectation 
that the war will very speedily be brought to a close, 
the Governor- General has determined not to allow 
officers on civil employment to join their regiments 
in the usual manner. I am thus spared what would 
have been a very fatiguing and expensive trip, with 
very little hope of seeing any fighting. 



128 KrSSOWLEE. 

It was not long, liowever, before an oppor- 
tanity of seeing actiTe service presented itself, 
and in a way, of all otliers, most to liis taste. 
His heart had all along been with his old 
corps, ' the Guides,' as his letters show. He 
had taken an active share in raising and train- 
ing them originally, and as second in command 
during the Punjab campaign of 1848—9, had 
contributed in no small degree to gain for the 
Coi'ps that reputation which it has recently so 
nobly sustained before Delhi. 

. The command was now vacant, and was 
offered to him ; but I must let him speak for 
himself: — 

KussowLEE, Sept. 2^rd, 1852. 

Ltunsden, my old commandaiit in the Guides, goes 
to England next month, and the Governor- General 
has given me the command which I have coveted so 
long. It is immense good fortune in every way, 
both as regards income and distinction. It is 
accounted the most honourable and arduous com- 
mand on the frontier, and fills the pubhc eye, as the 
papers say, more th an any other. 

This at the end of seven years^ service is a great 
thing, especially on such a frontier as Peshawnr, at 
the mouth of the Kyber Pass. Tou will agree with 
me in rejoicing at the opportunities for distinction 
thus offered to me. 

Mr. Thomason writes thus : ' I congratulate you 
' very sincerely on the fine prospect that is open to 
'you, and trust that you will have many opportu- 



COMMAND OF GriDE CORPS. 129 

' nities of showing what the Guides can do under 
'your leadership, I have never ceased to reproach 
' myself for advising you to leave the Corps, but now 
' that you have the coramaud, you will he all the 
' better for the dose of civilianism that has been 
' intermediately administered to you.' 



KUSSOWLEE, Oct. 1th, 1852. 

Here I am stillj but hoping to take wing for 
Peshawur in a few days. It is only 500 miles ; and 
as there are no railways, and only nominal roads, and 
five vast rivers to cross, you may suppose- that the 
journey is not one of a few hours' lounge. 

I am most gratified by the appointment to the 
command of the Guides, and more so by the way in 
which it was given me, and the manner of my 
selection from amidst a crowd of aspirants. It is 
no small thing for a subaltern to be raised to the 
command of a battalion of infantry and a squadron 
and a half of cavalry, with four English officers 
under him ! I am supposed to be the luckiest man 
of my time. I have already had an ofier from the 
Military Secretary to the Board of Administration 
to exchange appointments with him, although I should 
gain, and he would lose 200^. a year by the 'swop;' 
but I would not listen to him ; I prefer the saddle to 
the desk, the frontier to a respectable, wheel-going, 

dinner-giving, dressy life at the capital; and 

ambition to money ! 

But though, liis ' instincts were so entirel}'' 
military' (to use Ms own words), this did not 
prevent his discharging his civil duties in a 



130 LETTER EROM MR. EDMONSTONE. 

manner that called forth, the highest eulogium 
from his superiors, as the subjoined letter from 
Mr. Edmonstone, now Secretary to Govern- 
ment at Calcutta, will testify : — 

'KussowLEE, Oct. 12th, 1852. 
' My dear Hodson^ — I am a bad hand at talking, 
' and could not say what I wished, but I would not 
'have you go away without thanking you heartily 
' for the support and assistance which you have 
' always given me in all matters, whether big or 
' little, since you joined me, now twenty months and 
' more ago. I have in my civil and criminal reports 
' for the past year recorded my sense of your services, 
' and your official merits, but our connexion has been 
' peculiar, and your position has been one which few 
' would have filled either so efficiently or so agreeably 
' to all parties. You have afforded me the greatest 
' aid in the most irksome part of my duty, and have 
' always with the utmost readiness undertaken any- 
' thing, no matter what, that I asked you to dispose 
' of, and I owe you more on this account than a mere 
' official acknowledgment can repay adequately. I 
' hope that though your present appointment will 
' give you more congenial duties and better pay, 
' you will never have occasion to look back to 
' the time you have passed here with regret ; and I 
' hope too that all your anticipations of pleasure and 
' pride in commanding the Corps which you had a 
' chief hand in forming, may be realized. 

' Believe me to be, with much regard, 

' Yours very sincerely, 
' Gr. F. Edmonstone.* 



HUZARA. 131 

Camp in HuzIra, Dec. i6th, 1852. 

I took command of the Guides on the ist Novem- 
ber, and twenty-four hours afterwards marched ' on 
service ' to this country, which is on the eastern or 
left bank of the Indus, above the parallel of Attok. 
We are now in an elevated valley, surrounded by 
snowy mountains, and mighty cold it is, too, at night. 
We have come about 125 miles from Peshawur, and 
having marched up the hill, are patiently expect- 
ing the order to march down again. We have 
everything necessary for a pretty little mountain 
campaign but an enemy. This is usually a sine qua 
non in warfare, but not so now. Then we have to 
take a fort, only it has ceased to exist months ago ; 
and to reinstate an Indian ally in territories from 
■which he was expelled by some neighbours, only he 
wont be reinstated at any price. 

My regiment consists of five English officers, includ- 
ing a surgeon. Dr. Lyell, a very clever man. Then 1 
have 300 horse, including native offi.cers, and 550 foot, 
or 850 men in all, divided into three troops and six 
companies,* the latter armed as riflemen. My power 
is somewhat despotic, as 1 have authority to enlist 
or dismiss fi-om the service, flog or imprison, degrade 
or promote any one, from the native officers down- 
wards, always remembering that an abuse of power 
might lose me the whole. This sort of ehiefdom is 



* No two troops or companies were of the same race, in 
order to prevent the possibility of com.bination. One com- 
pany was composed of Sikhs, another of A.ffreedees, others 
of Pathans, Goorkhas, Punjabee Mahomedans, &c., with 
native officei's, in each case, of a different race from the 
men. 

K a 



132 HUZARA. 

necessary witli a wild sort of gentry of various races 
and speecbes, gathered from the snows of the Hindoo 
Koosh and the Himalaya, to the plains of Scinde 
and Hindoostan, all of whom are more quick at blows 
than at words, and more careless of human life than 
you could possibly understand in England by any de- 
scription. I am likely to have civil charge as well as 
military command of the Euzofzai district, comprising 
that portion of the great Peshawur valley which lies 
between the Cabul river and the Indus. So you see 
I am not likely to eat the bread of idleness, at least. 
I wall tell you more of my peculiar duties when I 

have more experience of their scope and bent 

I am, I should say, the most fortunate man in the 
service, considering my standing. The other can- 
didates were all field officers of some standing. 

Our good friend and guest. Captain Powys, of the 
6oth, who has spent the first six months of our 
married life under our roof, is on the way to England. 
He will see you very soon, and give you a better 
account of us than you could hope for from any one 
else. 

Notwitlistanding all appearance to tlie con- 
trary at its opening, the campaign lasted seven 
weeks, and supplied plenty of fighting. It 
was afterwards characterized by my brother 
as the hardest piece of service he had yet 
seen. One engagement lasted from sunrise to 
sunset. He had thus an opportunity of dis- 
playing his usual gallantry and coolness, and 
showing how well he could handle his ' Guides' 
in mountain warfare. They suffered much 



HUZARA. 133 

from cold, as the ground was covered with, 
snow for a part of the time, and from want of 
supphes. 

Colonel (now Sir E.) Napier, speaking after- 
wards of this expedition, said : — 

' Your brother's unfailing fun and spirits, 
' which seemed only raised by what we had to 
' go through, kept us all alive and merry, so 
' that we looked back upon it afterwards as a 
* party of pleasure, and thought we had never 
' enjoyed anything more.' 

In reply to congratulations on his appoint- 
ment my brother wrote from — 

Peshawur, March 13*7*, 1853. 

I have certainly been very fortunate indeed,, and 
only hope that I may be enabled to acquit myself of 
the trust well and honourably, both in the field and 
in the more political portion of my duties. It was a 
good thing that I had the opportunity of leading the 
regiment into action so soon after getting the com- 
mand, and that the brunt of the whole should have 
fallen upon us, as it placed the older men and myself 
once more on our old footing of confidence in one 
another^ and introduced me to the younger hands as 
their leader when they needed one. Susie says she 
told you all about it j I need therefore only add that 
it was the hardest piece of service^ while it lasted, I 
have yet seen with the Guides, both as regards the 
actual fighting, the difiiculties of the ground (a rugged 
mountain, 7000 feet high, and densely wooded), and 
the exposure. You will see little or no mention of it 



134 EuzorzAi. 

publicly, it being the policy of Governraent to make 
everything' appear as quiet as possible on this frontier, 
and to blazon the war on the eastern side of the empire 
(some 2000 miles away) as much as they can. I 
am, as you justly imagined, to be employed both 
civilly and in a military capacity — at least, it is under 
discussion. I was asked to take charge of the wild 
district of ^Euzofzai^ (forming ajarge portion of the 
Peshawur province), where the Guides will ordinarily 
be stationed. I refused to do so unless I had the 
exclusive civil charge in all departments, magisterial, 
financial, and judicial, instead of in the former only, 
as proposed, and I fancy they will give in to my 
reasons. I shall then be military chief, and civil 
governor too, as far as that part of the valley is con- 
cerned, and shall have enough on my hands, as you 
may suppose. In the mean time, I shall have the 
superintendence of the building of a fort to contain 
us all — not such a fortress as Coblentz, or those on 
the Belgian frontier, but a mud structure, which 
answers all the purposes we require at a very, very 
small cost. 

Peshawue, April ^oth, 1853. 
I am sorry to say my wife is ordered to the hills, 
and we shall again be separated for five or six months. 
My own destination for the hot season is uncertain, 
but I expect to be either here, or on the banks of the 
Indus. 

Camp, near Peshawur, June 4th, 1853. 
. . . . I hope to get away from work and 
heat in August or September for a month, if all things 
remain quiet. But for this sad separation, there 



LIFE IN CAMP. 135 

would be much charm for me in this gipsy life. To 
avoid the great heats of the next three months in 
tents, we are building huts for ourselves of thatch, 
and mine is assuming the dignity of mud walls. We 
are encamped on a lovely spot, on the banks of the 
swift and bright river, at the foot of the hills, on the 
watch for incursions or forays, and to guard the 
richly cultivated plain of the Peshawar valley from 
depredations from the hills. We are ready, of course, 
to boot and saddle at all hours ; our rifles and car- 
bines are loaded, and our swords keen and bright : 
and woe to the luckless chief who, trusting to his 
horses, descends upon the plain too near our pickets ! 
Meanwhile, I am civil as well as military chief, and 
the natural taste of the Euzofzai Pathans for broken 
heads, murder, and violence, as well as their litigious- 
ness about their lands, keeps me very hard at work 
from day to day. Perhaps the life may be more suited 
to a careless bachelor, than to a husband with such a 
wife as mine ; but even still it has its charms for an 
active mind and body. A daybreak parade or in- 
spection, a gallop across the plain to some outpost, 
a plunge in the river, and then an early breakfast, 
occupy your time until 9 a.m. Then come a couple 
of corpses whose owners (late) had their heads broken 
over night, and consequent investigations and exami- 
nations : next a batch of villagers to say their crops 
are destroyed by a storm, and no rents forthcoming. 
Then a scream of woe from a plundered farm on the 
frontier, and next a grain- dealer, to say his camels 
have been carried off to the hills. ' Is not this a 
dainty dish to set before — your brother.^ Then each 
of my nine hundred men considers me bound to listen 



136 COMPETITIVE SYSTEM. 

to any amount of stories he may please to invent or 
remember of his own private griefs and troubles ; and 
last, not leastj there are four young gentlemen who 
have each his fancy, and who often give more trouble 
in transacting business than assistance in doing it. 
However, I have no right to complain, for I am 
about, yes, quite, the most fortunate man in the 
service ; and have I not the right to call myself the 
happiest also, with such a wife and such a home? 



Camp, near Peshawur, August 6th, 1853. 
I hear that the new system for India is to throw 
open Addiscombe and Haileybury to public competi- 
tion : that this public competition will be fair and 
open, and free from jobbery and patronage, I suppose 
no sane person in the 19th century, acquainted with 
public morals and public bodies, would believe for an 
instant. The change may, however, facilitate admis- 
sion into the service to well-crammed boys. There are, 
I doubt not, many clever and able men who would in 
a year put any boy with tolerable abilities into a state 
of intellectual coma which would enable him to write 
out examination papers by the dozen, and pass a tri- 
umphant examination in paper-military affairs, I am 
not called upon to state how much of it would avail 
in the hour of strife and danger. India is par ex- 
cellence the country for poor men who have hard con- 
stitutions and strong stomachs. I fear you will add, 
when you have read thus far, that it is not favourable 
to charity, or to the goodness which, under the pious 
wish to think no evil, gives every one credit for every- 
thing, and believes that words mean what they appear 
to express, and that language conveys some idea of the 



GEOGRAPHY OF PUNJAB. 137 

tliouglits of the speaker ! ... It is very trying 
that I cannot be with Susie at Murree ; but with a 
people such as these it is not safe to be absent, lest 
the volcano should break out afresh. Since I began 
this sheet a dust-storm has covered everything on my 
table completely with sand. My pen is clogged and 
my inkstand choked, and my eyes full of dust ! What 
am I to do ? Oh the pleasures of the tented field 
in August in the valley of Peshawur ! It has been 
very hot indeed, lately. We have barely in our huts 
had the thermometer under 100°, and a very steamy, 
stewy heat it is, into the bargain. 



MuBKEE, Sept. 14th, 1853. 
I am enjoying a little holiday from arms and 
kutcherry up in the cool here with Susie. Murree is 
not more than 140 miles from Peshawur. You say 
that you do not know ' what I mean by hills in my 
part of India.^ This is owing to the badness of the 
maps. The fact is, that the whole of the upper part 
of the country watered by the five rivers is moun- 
tainous. The Himalaya extends from the eastern 
frontiers of India to Affghanistan, where it joins the 
' Hindoo Koosh,^ or Caucasus. If you draw a line 
from Peshawur, through E,awul Pindee, to Simla or 
Subathoo, or any place marked on the maps there- 
abouts, you may assume that all to the north of that 
line is mountain country. Another chain runs from 
Peshawur, down the right bank of the Indus to the 
sea. At Attok the mountains close in upon the 
river, or more correctly speaking, the river emerges 
from the mountains, and the higher ranges end there. 
The Peshawur valley is a wide open plain, lying on 



138 EUzorzAi. 

the banks of the Cabul river, about sixty miles long 
by forty broad, encircled by mountains, some of them 
covered with snow for eight or nine months of the 
year. Euzofzai is the north-eastern portion of this 
valley, embraced between the Cabul river and the 
Indus. Half of Euzofzai (the ' abode of the children 
of Joseph') is mountain, but we only hold the level 
or plain part of it. Nevertheless, a large part of my 
little province is very hilly. In the north-east corner 
of Euzofzai, hanging over the Indus, is a vast lump of 
a hill, called ' Mahabun' (or the ' great forest'), 
thickly peopled on its slopesj and giving shelter to 
some 12,000 armed men, the bitterest bigots which 
even Islam can produce. The hill is about 7800 
feet above the level of the sea. This has been iden- 
tified by the wise men with the Aornos of Arrian, 
and Alexander is supposed to have crossed the Indus 
at its foot. Whether he did so or not, I am not '^at 
liberty to mention,' but it is certain that Nadir Shah, 
in one of his incursions into India, marched his host 
to the top of it, and encamped there. This gives 
colour to the story that the Macedonian did the same. 
As in all ages, there are dominating points which are 
seized on by men of genius when engaged in the 
great game of war. The great principles of war seem 
to change as little as the natural features of the 
country. Well, you will see how a mountain range 
running ^ slantingdicularly' across the Upper Punjab 
contains many nice mountain tops suited to Anglo- 
Saxon adventurers. If you can find Eawul Pindee on 
the maps, you may put your finger on Murree, about 
twenty-five miles, as the crow flies, to the north- 
east. You should get a map of the Punjab, Cashmere 



DEATH OF MR. THOMASON. 139 

and Iskardoj published by Arrowsmith in 1847. 
George sent me two of them. They are the best 
published maps I have seen. As to the Euzofzai 
fever, that is, I am happy to say, now over. It was 
terrible while it lasted. Between the ist March and 
the 15th June, 1853, 835:2 persons died out of a 
population of 53,500. It was very similar to typhus, 
but had some symptoms of yellow fever. It was 
confined to natives. It appeared to be contagious or 
infectious, but I am so entirely sceptical as to the 
existence of either contagion or infection in these 
Indian complaints, that I cannot bring myself to 
believe that the appearances were real. 

Poor Colonel Mackison, the Commissioner at 
Peshawur (the chief civil and political ofiicer for the 
frontier), was stabbed, a few days ago, by a fanatic, 
while sitting in his verandah reading. The fellow 
was from Swat, and said he had heard that we were 
going to invade his country, and that he would try 
to stop it, and go to heaven as a martyr for the faith. 
Poor Mackison is still alive, but in a very precarious 
state, I fear. I hope this may induce Government 
to take strong measures with the hill tribes. 

He had soon to mourn the loss of a still 
more valued friend : — 

Oct. i^th, 1853. 

You will have been much shocked at hearing of 
poor dear Mr. Thomason^s death. 

It is an irreparable loss to his family and friends, 
but it will be even more felt in his public capacity. 
He had not been ill, but died from sheer debility and 
exhaustion produced by overwork and application in 
the trying season just over. Had he gone to the 



140 BOREE CAMPAIGN. 

hills_, all would have been right. I cannot but think 
that he sacrificed himself as an example to others. 
You may imagine how much I have felt the loss of 
my earliest and best friend in India, to whom I was 
accustomed to detail all my proceedings, and whom I 
was wont to consult in every difficulty and doubt. 

On the 2nd November h.e wrote from Rawul 
Pindee to announce the birth of a daughter. 
He had been obliged previously to return to his 
duties ; but by riding hard all night, had been 
able to be with his wife at the time, and after 
greeting the little stranger, had immediately 
to hasten back to his Gruides on the frontier. 

The Grovernment, with a view to secure the 
Kohat Pass, were now preparing an expe- 
dition against the refractory tribe of the Borees, 
one of the bravest and wildest of the AfFghan 
race, in order to prove that their hills and 
valleys were accessible to our troops. 

Accordingly, a force consisting of 400 men 
of her Majesty's 23nd, 450 Groorkhas, 450 
Gruides, and the mountain train, marched at 4 
A.M. on the morningof the 29thNovember, under 
the command of Brigadier Boileau, to attack 
the villages in the Boree valley, 

I must supply the loss of my brother's own 
account by a letter from an officer with the 
expedition : — 

' Our party, after crossing the hills between 



BOREE CAMPAIGN. 141 

' Knndao and the main AfFreedee range at 
' two points, re-nnited in the valley at 
' 10.30 A.M., and with the villages of the Borees 
' before us at the foot of some precipitous crags. 
' These it at once became apparent must be 
' carried before the villages could be attacked 

* and destroyed. The service devolved on two 
' detachments of the Groorkhas and Guides, 
' commanded by Lieutenants Hodson and 
' Turner, and the style in which these gallant 
' fellows did their work, and drove the enemy 
' from crag to rock and rock to crag, and finally 
' kept them at bay from ii a.m. to 3 p.m., was 
' the admiration of the whole force. We could 
' plainly see the onslaught, especially a fierce 
' struggle that lasted a whole hour, for the 
' possession of a breastwork, which appeared 
' inaccessible from below, but was ultimately 
' carried by the Guides, in the face of the 
' determined opposition of the Affreedees, who 
' fought for every inch of ground. 

' Depend upon it, this crowning of the Boree 
' heights was one of the finest pieces of light 
' infantry performance on record. It was, 
' moreover, one which Avitabile, with 10,000 
' Sikhs, was unable to accomplish. During 
' these operations on the hill, the villages were 

* burnt, and it was only the want of powder 
' which prevented the succession of towers 



142 BOUEE CAMPAIGN. 

wliicli flanked tlieni being blown into the air. 
The object of the exjDedition having been thus 
fully achieved, the skirmishers were recalled 
at about three, and then the difficulties of the 
detachment commenced; for, as is well 
known, the Affghans are familiar with the 
art of following, tliough they will rarely meet 
an enemy. The withdrawal of the Guides 
and Goorkhas from the heights was most 
exciting, and none but the best officers and 
the best men could have achieved this duty 
with such complete success. Lieutenant 
Hodson's tactics were of the most brilliant 
description, and the whole force having been 
once more re-united in the plain, they marched 
out of the valley by the Turoonee pass, which, 
though farthest from the British camp, was 
the shortest to the outer plains. The force 
did not return to camp till between ten and 
eleven at night, having been out nearly 
eighteen hours, many of the men without 
food, and almost all without water, the small 
supply which had been carried out having 
soon been exhausted, and none being pro- 
curable at Boree. 

' Not an officer of the detachment was 
touched, and only eight men killed and 
twenty-four wounded. When the force first 
entered the valley, there were not more than 



EOREE CAMPAIGN. 143 

* 300 Borees in arms to resist ; but before tliey 
' returned, the number bad increased to some 
' 3000, tens and twenties pouring in all tbe 
' morning from all tbe villages and hamlets 
' witbin many miles, intelligence of tbe attack 
' being conveyed to tbem by tbe firing.' 

My brother's services on tbis occasion were 
tbus acknowledged by tbe Brigadier command- 
ing. Colonel Boileau, ber Majesty's aand Begi- 
ment, in a despatch dated Nov. 2<gih., 1853. 

' To the admirable conduct of Lieutenant Hodson 
' in reconnoitring, in the skilful disposition of his 
' men, and the daring gallantry with which he led 
' his fine Corps in every advance, most of our success 
^ is due ; for the safety of the whole force while in 
' the valley of the Tillah depended on his holding his 
' position, and I had justly every confidence in his vigi- 
' lance and valour. 

(Signed) ' J. B. Boileau, 

' Brigadier Cotnmanding the Force 
at Boree' 



'To Lieutenant W. S. E. Hodson, I beg you will 
* express my particular thanks for the great service 
' he rendered the force under your command, by his 
' ever gallant conduct, which has fully sustained the 
' reputation he has so justly acquired for courage, cool- 
' ness, and determination. 

(Signed) ' W. M. Gomm, 

* Commander-in-Chief^ 



144 CAMP, muudAn. 

Before Christmas, to his great delight, he 
was joined in camp by his wife and child. The 
following letters bring out still more promi- 
nently the tender loving side of his character, 
both as a father and a son ; — 

To his Father. 

Camp, MttrdIn, Euzofzai, Jan. 2nd, 1854. 

I have been sadly long in answering your last most 
welcome letter, but I have been so terribly driven 
from pillar to post^ that I have always been unable to 
sit down at the proper time. My long holiday with 

dear S , and journeyings to and fro to see her at 

Murree^ and our short campaign against the Affreedees 
in November^ threw me into a sea of arrears which 
was terrible to contemplate, and still worse to escape 
from. I am now working all day and half the 
night, and cannot as yet make much impression on 
them. 

I wish you could see your little granddaughter 
being nursed by a rough-looking AfFghan soldierj 
or bearded Sikh, and beginning life so early as a 
dweller in tents. She was christened by Mr. Clarke, 
one of the Church Missionaries who happened to be 
in Peshawur. The chaplain, who ought to have been 
there was amusing himself somewhere, and we could 
not catch a spare parson for a fortnight. 

You evidently do not appreciate the state of things 
in these provinces. There are but two churches in 
the Punjab; and there will be an electric telegraph to 
Peshawur before a church is commenced there, though 
the station has been one for four years. Jn the first 



ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION. 145 

season a large Roman Catholic Chapel was built 
there^ and an Italian priest from the Propaganda busy- 
in his vocation. I offered Mr. C. all the aid in my 
power, though I told him candidly that I thought he 
had not much chance of. success here. A large sum 
has been raised at Peshawur for the Mission, but un- 
fortunately they have gone wild with theories about 
the lost tribes and fulfilment of prophecies respecting 
the Jews, which has given a somewhat visionary 
character to their plans. Mr. C. wanted me to 
think that these Euzofzai Pathfins were Ben-i-Israel, 
and asked me whether I had heard them call them- 
selves so ; and he was aghast when I said they were 
as likely to talk of Ben d'Israeli. All I can say is, 
that if they be ' lost tribes' I only wish they would 
find out a home somewhere else among their cousins, 
and give me less trouble. . . . My second in command 
was stabbed in the back by a fanatic the other day 
while on parade, and has had a wonderful escape for 
his life. 

You would so delight in your little granddaughter. 
She is a lovely good little darling ; as happy as pos- 
sible, and wonderfully quick and intelligent for her 
months, I would give worlds to be able to run home 
and see you, and show you my child, but I fear 
much that, unless I find a 'nugget,^ it is vain 
to hope for so much pleasure just now. Meantime, I 
have every blessing a man can hope for, and not the 
least is that of your fond and much prized affec- 
tion. 

A few months later, again apologizing for 
long silence, he says : — 



146 BUILDING rORT. 

May I St. 

In addition to the very onerous command of 876 
wild men and 300 wild horses^ and the charge of the 
civil administration of a district almost as lawless as 
Tipperary^ I have had to build^ and superintend the 
building of, a fort to give cover to the said men and 
horses, including also within its walls three houses 
for English officers, a police station, and a native 
collector's office. He who builds in India builds not 
in the comfortable acceptation of the term which 
obtains at home. He sends not for his Barry or his 
Basevi; calls not for a design and specifications, and 
then beholds his house, and pays his bill; but he 
builds as Noah may have built the Ark. 

Down to the minutest detail of carpentry, smithery, 
and masonry, and of ' muddery/ too, for that matter, 
he must know what he is about, and show others 
what to do, or good-bye to his hopes for a house. 

Altogether, I am often fourteen hours a day at 
hard work, and obliged to listen for a still longer 
period. 

Our poor little darling had a very severe attack 
of fever the other day, but is now well again, and 
getting strong. I never see her without wishing 
that she was in her grandfather's arms. You would 
so delight in her little baby tricks and ways. She is 
the very delight of our lives, and we look forward 
with intense interest to her beginning to talk and 
crawl about. Both she and her dear mother will 
have to leave for the hills veiy soon, I am sorry to 
say. We try to put oif the evil day, but I dare not 
expose either of my treasures to the heat of Euzofzai 
or Peshawur for the next three months. . . . The 



LIFE IN WILDERNESS. 147 

young lady already begins to show a singularity of 
taste — refusing to go to the arms of any native women^ 
and decidedly preferring the male population^ some 
of whom are distinguished by her special favour. Her 
own orderlyj save the marky never tires of looking at 
her ' beautiful white fingers/ nor she of twisting them 
into his black beard — an insult to an Oriental, which 
he bears with an equanimity equal to his fondness for 
her. The cunning fellows have begun to make use of 
her too, and when they want anything, ask the favour 
in the name of Lilli Baba (they cannot manage 
' Olivia' at all) , They know the spell is potent. 

The following letters from liis wife's pen 
give a lively picture of ' domestic' life in the 
wilderness, and of the wilderness itself : — 

January, t854. 

' Picture to yourself an immense plain, flat as a 
' billiard table, but not as green, with here and there 
' a dotting of camel thorn about eighteen inches 
' high, by way of vegetation. This far as the eye 
^ can reach on the east, west, and south of us, but on 
' the north the lasting snows of the mighty Hima- 
' laya glitter and sparkle like a rosy diadem above 
' the lower range, which is close to our camp. What 
' would you say to life in such a wilderness ? or how 
'' would you stare to see the ofiicers sit down to table 
' with swoi'd and pistol? The baby never goes for 
' an airing without a guard of armed horsemen : what 
' a sensation such a cortege would create in Hyde 
' Park ! ' 

April i^ih. 

' You ask for some detail of our life out here, and 

L 3 



148 EUZOFZAI, 

' the history of one clay will be a picture of every one^ 
' with little variation. 

' At the first bugle^ soon after daylight^ W. gets 
' np and goes to parade^ and from thence to super- 
' intend the proceedings at the fort. 

' By nine o'clock we are both ready for break- 
' fastj after which W. disappears into his business tent_, 
' where he receives regimental reports^ examines 
' recruits,, whether men or horses, superintends stores 
' and equipments, hears complaints, and settles dis- 
' putes, &c. &c. The regimental business first dis- 
' patched, then comes " kutcherry," or civil court 
' matters, receiving petitions, adjusting claims, with 
' a still longer &c. You may have some small idea 
' of the amount of this work, when I tell you that 
' during the month of March he disposed of twenty- 
' one serious criminal cases, such as murder, and 
^ '' wounding with intent," and nearly 300 charges of 
' felony, larceny, &c. At two o^clock he comes in for 
' a look at his bairn, and a glass of wine. Soon after 
' five a cup of tea, and then we order the horses, and 
' in the saddle till nearly eight, when I go with him 
' again to the fort, the garden, and the roads, 
' diverging occasionally to fix the site of a new 
' village, a well, or a watercourse. 

' You can understand something of the delight of 
*■ galloping over the almost boundless plain in the 
' cool fresh air (for the mornings and evenings are 
' still lovely), with the ground now enamelled with 
' sweet-scented flowers, and the magnificent mountains 
' nearest us assiuming every possible hue which light 
' and shadow can bestow. On our return to camp, 
' W. hears more reports till dinner, which is some- 



LIFE IN WILDEUNESS. 149 

' times shared by the other ofRcerSj or chance 
' guests. 

' When we are alone, as soon as dinner is over, 
^ the letters which have arrived in the evening are 
^ examined, classified, and descanted on, sometimes 
' answered ; and I receive my instructions for next 
' day's work in copying papers, answering letters, &c. 
^ And now do you not think that prayers and bed 
' are the fitting and well-earned ending to the labours 
^ of the day ? 

^ When you remember, too, that in building the 
* fort, roads, and bridges, W. has to make his bricks 
^ and burn them, to search for his timber and fell it, 
<■ you will not deny that his hands are full enough -, 
' but in addition, he has to search for workmen, and 
' when brought here, to procure them food and means 
' of cooking it. Some are Mussulmans and eat meat, 
' which must be killed and cooked by their own 
' people. Some are Hindoos, who only feed on grain 
' and vegetables, but every single man must have his 
' own chula or fireplace, with an enclosure for him 
^ and his utensils, and if by chance any foot but his 
' own overstep his little mud wall, he wdl neither 
' eat nor work till another sun has arisen. Then 
' some smoke, while others hold it in abhorrence ; 
' some only drink water, others must have spirits j so 
' that it is no easy matter to arrange the conflicting 
' wants of some i loo labourers. I shall be very thank- 
ful when this Murdan Kote is finished, for it will re- 
' lieve my poor husband of half his labour and anxiety. 
' By way of variety, we have native sports on great 
' holidays — such as throwing the spear at a mark, or 
" Nazabaze," which is, fixing a stake of twelve or 



150 NATIVE SPOUTS. 

' eighteen inclies into the ground^ which must be taken 
' up on the spear's point while passing it at full gallop, 
' or putting an orange on the top of a bamboo a yard 
' high, and cutting it through with a sword at full 
' speed. W. is very clever at this, rarely failing, 
' but the spears are too long for any but a lithe 
' native to wield without risking a broken arm. The 
' scene is most picturesque — the flying horsemen in 
' their flowing many-coloured garments, and the 
' grouping of the lookers-on, make me more than 
^ ever regret not having a ready pencil-power to put 
' them on paper. 

' The weather has been particularly unfavourable 
' to the progress of the fort, so that we are still in 
' our temporary hut and tents. Of course we feel 
' the heat much more so domiciled. W. is grievously 
' overworked, still his health is wonderfully good, and 
' his spirits as wild as if he were a boy again. He is 
' never so well pleased as when he has the baby in 
' his arms.' 



Attok, June gth, 1854. 
. . . We are so far on the way to Murree, and here, 
I grieve to say, we part for the next three months. I 
hope to rejoin them for a month in September, and 
accompany them back to our new home, for by that 
time I trust that my fortified cantonment will be 
ready, and our house too. This said fort has been a 
burden and a stumbling-block to me for months, 
and added grievously to my work, as I am sole 
architect. It is built regularly^ but of earth-works 
and mud, and as it covers an area of twelve acres, you 
may believe that it has been no slight task to super- 



LOSS OF CHILD. 151 

intend its construction. It is a sad necessity, and the 
curse of Indian life, this repeatedly recurring sepa- 
ration, but anything is better than to see the dear 
ones suffer. I am fortunately very well, and as yet 
untouched by the unusual virulence with which the 
hot weather has commenced this year. 



To his FjitJier. 

MuEREE, July I'jth, 1854. 

I was summoned from Euzofzai to these hills, on 
the 26th June, by the tidings of the dangerous illness 
of our sweet baby. 1 found her in a sinking state, 
and though she was spared to us for another fortnight 
of deep anxiety and great wretchedness, there was, from 
the time I arrived, scarcely a hope of her recovery. 
Slowly and by imperceptible degrees her little life 
wasted away until, early on the morning of the Joth, 
she breathed her soul away, so gently that those 
watching her intently were conscious of no change. 
The deep agony of this bereavement I have no words 
to describe. We had watched her growth, and prided 
ourselves on her development with such absorbing 
interest and joy ; and she had so won our hearts by 
her extreme sweetness and most unusual intelligence, 
that she had become the very centre and light of our 
home life, and in losing her we seem to have lost 
everything. Her poor mother is sadly bowed down 
by this great grief, and has suffered terribly both in 
health and spirits. 

I have got permission to remain with her a few days, 
but I must return to my duty before the end of the 
month . 



152 LOSS OF CHILD. 

We had the best and kindest of medical advice, 
and every things I believe, which skill could do was 
tried, but in vain. She was lent to us to be our joy 
and comfort for a time, and was taken from us again, 
and the blank she has left behind is great indeed. 

I dare not take Susan down with me, much as she 
wishes it, at this season, and in her state of health. 
I must therefore leave her here till October. It is 
very sad work to part again under these circumstances, 
but in this wretched country there is no help for us. 
Your kind and affectionate expressions about our little 
darling, and your keen appreciation of the ' unfailing 
source of comfort and refreshment she was to my 
wearied spirit,^ came to me just as I had ceased to 
hope for the precious babe's life. 

. . . It has been a very, very bitter blow to us. 
She had w^ound her little being round our hearts to 
an extent which we neither of us knew until we woke 
from the brief dream of beauty, and found ourselves 
childless. 



Camp, MurdIn, Sept. i)th, 1854. 
I am alone now, having none of my officers here 
save the doctor. But the border is quiet, and, ex- 
cept a great deal of crime and villainy, I have not any 
great difficulties to contend with. My new fort to 
hold the regiment and protect the frontier is nearly 
finished, and my new house therein will be habitable 
before my wife comes down from Murree. So after two 
years and a quarter of camp and hutting, I shall enjoy 
the luxury of a room and the dignity of a house. 



COMPLETION OF FORT. 153 

Fort, MukdIk, Oct. 31 si, 1854, 
I can give better accounts of our own state than 
for many a long day. Dear Susan is much better 
than for a year past^ and gaining strength daily, and 
I am as well as possible. We are now in our new 
house in this fort_, which has caused me so much 
labour and anxiety ; and I assure you, a most com- 
fortable dwelling we find it. Our houses (I mean 
the European officers^) project from the general front 
of the works at the angles of the bastions, and are 
quite private, and away from the noisy soldiers ; and 
we have, for India, a very pretty view of the hills and 
plains around us. Above all, the place seems a very 
healthy one. To your eye, fresh from England, it 
would appear desolate from its solitude and oppressive 
from the vastness of the scale of scene. A wide plain, 
without a break or a tree, thirty miles long, by fifteen to 
twenty miles wide, forms our immediate foreground on 
one side, and an endless mass of mountains on the other. 
We have just heard by telegraph of the en- 
gagement at Alma, but only a brief electric shock 
of a message, without details. We are in an age of 
wonders. Ten months ago, there was not a telegraph 
in Hindoostan, yet the news which reached Bombay on 
the 27th of this month, was printed at Lahore, 1200 
miles from the coast, that same afternoon. 



MuKDlN, November 16th, 1854. 

As yet, we have only felt the surging of the storm 

which convulses Eastern Europe. The only palpable 

sign of the efieets of Russian intrigue which we have 

had, has been the commencement of negotiation with 



154 NATIVE ALLIANCES. 

the Dosfc Mahomed Khan, of Cabul_, who under the 
pressure from without, has been fain to seek for 
alliance and aid from us. Nothing is yet known of 
his demands, or the intentions of Government, but 
one thing is certain, that the commencement of nego- 
tiations with us, is the beginning of evil days for 
Affghanistan. 

In India, we must either keep altogether aloof or 
absorb. All our history shows that sooner or later con- 
nexion with us is political death. The sunshine is not 
more fatal to a dew-drop than our friendship or alliance 
to an Asiatic Kingdom. 



CHAPTEE YIII. 

REVERSES. UNJUST TREATMENT. LOSS OF COMMAND. 

RETURN TO REGIMENTAL DUTIES. 

TTP to this time my brotlier's career in India 
had been one of almost uninterrupted 
prosperity. He had attained a position un- 
precedented for a man of his standing in the 
service, and enjoyed a reputation for daring, 
enterprise, and abihty, only equalled by the 
estimation in which he was held by all who 
knew him, for high principle and sterling 
worth. He was, as he described himself, the 
most fortunate and the happiest man in India. 
But now the tide of fortune turned. 

A storm had for some time been gathering, 
the indications of which he had either over- 
looked or despised, till it burst with its full 
force upon him, and seemed for the moment 
to carry all before it, blasting his fair fame and 
sweeping away his fortunes. Many circum- 
stances had conspired to bring about this result, 
some of which will only be fully appreciated by 
those who are acquainted with the internal 
politics of the Punjab at that period. His 
appointment to the command of the Guides, 



156 JEALOUSY. 

over the heads of many of his seniors, had 
from the first excited much jealousy and ill- 
will among the numerous aspirants to so dis- 
tinguished a post. In India, more than in any 
other country, a man cannot be prosperous or for- 
tunate without making many enemies; and every 
ascent above the level of your cotemporaries 
secures so many additional 'good haters;' nor is 
there any country where enmity is more un- 
scrupulous in the means to which it has 
recourse. This mattered comparatively little 
to my brother, so long as Sir Henry Lawrence, 
to whose firm and discriminating friendship he 
owed his appointment, remained in power. 
He, however, had been removed from the Admi- 
nistration of the Punjab, and those who had 
efiected his removal, and now reigned supreme, 
were not likely to look with very favourable 
eyes upon one who, like my brother, was 
known as his protege and confidant, and had 
not perhaps been as guarded, as in prudence 
he ought to have been, in the expressions of 
his opinion on various transactions. More 
recently still. Colonel Mackeson, the Eesident 
at Peshawur, his immediate superior, for whom 
he entertained the highest regard and afiection, 
which was, I believe, reciprocated, had fallen a 
victim to the dagger of the assassin. This 
had, if possible, a still more injurious influence 



CALUMNIES. 157 

on my brother's positioi], as the new Eesident 
was, both on public and private grounds, opposed 
to him, and made no secret of his wish to get 
rid of him from the charge of the frontier. 

With a prospect of such support, my 
brother's enemies were not likely to be idle. 
He had been warned more than once of their 
undermining operations ; but strong in con- 
scious integrity, and unwilling to suspect 
others of conduct which he would have scorned 
himself, he ' held straight on' upon his usual 
course, till he found himself overwhelmed by a 
mass of charges affecting his conduct, both in 
his military and civil capacity. 

All that malice could invent or ingenuity 
distort, was brought forward to give impor- • 
tance to the accusations laid against him. 
Every trifling irregularity or error of judg- 
ment was so magnified,, that a mighty fabric 
was raised on a single grain of truth ; and the 
result was, that towards the close of the year 
he was summoned before a court of inquiry at 
Peshawur. 

That which seemed principally to give 
colour to the charges against him was, that 
there was undeniably confusion and irregularity 
in the regimental accounts ; but this confusion, 
far from having originated with him, had been 
very materially rectified. He had succeeded 



158 REGIMENTAL ACCOUNTS. 

to tke command in October, 1852, and within 
twenty-four hours started on a campaign vvhidi 
lasted between seven and eight weeks, without 
any audit of accounts between himself and his 
predecessor, who had, immediately on making 
over the command, left for England ; so that 
he found a mass of unexplained confusion, 
which he had been endeavouring, during his 
period of command, gradually to reduce to 
some order. This he had to a certain extent 
accomplished when summoned unexpectedly 
to undergo an investigation and meet the 
gravest accusations. 

I will, however, in preference to any state- 
ments of my own, which might not unnaturall}^ 
be suspected of partiality, insert here, though 
it was written at a later period, a letter, giving 
an account of the whole affair, from one whose 
opinion must carry the greatest weight with 
ail who know him either personally or by repu- 
tation. Sir R. Napier. It has somewhat of an 
official character, as it was addressed to the 
colonel of the ist Bengal European Fusiliers, 
when my brother subsequently rejoined that 
regiment. 

And I may here observe, with regard to 
anything which I may now or hereafter say 
reflecting on the conduct and motives of those 
concerned in this attempt to ruin my brother's 



LETTER FROM SIR R. NAPIER. 159 

prospects, that I should not have ventured to 
make these remarks simply on his authority, 
unless I had had them confirmed, and more 
than confirmed, by men of the highest cha- 
racter, both civil and mihtary, who were cogni- 
zant of all the transactions, and did not scruple 
to express their indignation at what they 
characterized as a most cruel and unjust* perse- 
cution. 

From Colonel (now Sir R.) Napier, Chief Engineer, 
Punjab, to Colonel Welchman, \st Bengal Fusiliers. 

Umbala, March, 1856, 
' My dear Col. Welchman, — I have great pleasure 
in meetingyour request^ to state in writingmy opinion 
regarding my friend Lieutenant Hodson^s case. 
Having been on intimate terms of friendship with 
him since 1846, I was quite unprepared for the 
reports to his disadvantage which were circulated, 
and had no hesitation in pronouncing my utter dis- 
belief in, and repudiation of them, as being at 
variance with everything I had ever known of his 
character. On arriving at Peshawur in March, 1 855, 
I found that Lieutenant Hodson had been under- 
going a course of inquiry before a Special Military 
Court, and on reading a copy of the proceedings^ I 
perceived at once that the whole case lay in the cor- 
rectness of his regimental accounts; that his being 
summoned before a Court, after suspension from 



* One of liis principal accusers on his deathbed de- 
clai'ed that nothing caused him so much regret as his shame- 
ful condvict towards Lieutenant Hodson in this business. 



160 LETTER OF SIE, U. NAPIER. 

civil and military duty^ and after an open invita- 
tion (under regimental authority) to all complainants 
in his regiment^ was a most unusual ordeal^ such as 
no man could be subjected to without the " greatest 
disadvantage ; and notwithstanding this^ the proceed- 
ings" did notcontain a single substantial case against 
him^ provided he could establish the validity of his 
regimental accounts; and that he could do this I felt 
more than confident. The result of Major Taylor's 
laborious and patient investigation of Lieutenant 
Hodson's regimental accounts has fully justified, but 
has not at all added to, the confidence that I have 
throughout maintained in the honour and upright- 
ness of his conduct. It has, however, shown (what I 
believed, but had not the same means of judging of) 
how much labour Lieutenant Hodson bestowed in 
putting the afiairs of his regiment in order. Having 
seen a great deal of the manner in which the Guide 
Corps has been employed, I can well understand 
how difficult it has been to maintain anything like 
regiilarity of office ; and how impossible it may be 
for those who remain quietly in stations with effi- 
cient establishments, to understand or make allow- 
ance for the difficulties and irregularities entailed 
by rapid movements on service, and want of proper 
office means in adjusting accounts for which no 
organized system had been established. The man- 
ner in which Lieutenant Hodson has elucidated his 
accounts since he had access to the necessary sources 
of information, appears to be highly creditable. I 
have twice had the good fortune to have been as- 
sociated with him on military service, when his 
high qualities commanded admiration. I heartily 



MR. MONTGOMEEY. 161 

' rejoice, therefore, both as a friend and as a member 
' of the service, " at his vindication from most grievoiis 
' and unjust imputations." And while I congratulate 
' the regiment on his return to it, I regret that one of 
' the best swords should be withdrawn from the frontier 
' service. — I remain yours very sincerely, 

' E. Napier.' 

On tlie receipt of Major Eeynell Taylor's 
report, to which, reference is here made, Mr. 
Montgomery (then one of the Commissioners 
for the Punjab, now the Chief Commissioner 
in Oude), one of the men who, under Grod, 
have saved India, wrote as follows : — 

* To me the whole report seemed more satis- 
' factory than any one I had ever read ; and 

* considering Major Taylor's high character, 

* patience, and discernment, and the lengthened 

* period he took to investigate every detail, 
' most triumphant. This I have expressed to all 
' with whom I have conversed on the subject.' 

AU this, however, is an anticipation of the 
due order of events. I must go back again to 
the Court of Inquiry, in order to show more 
clearly the injustice to which Lieutenant 
Hodson was exposed. The proceedings of the 
Court terminated on the J5th January, 1855. 
Till they were submitted to the Grovernor- 
Greneral, no decision could be given, nor any 
report published, though every publicity had 
been given to the accusations made. Up to 

M 



162 SUPPRESSION OP EEPOUT. 

the last week in July, the papers had not been 
forwarded from Lahore to be laid before him. 
Meanwhile, not merely had my brother been 
suspended from civil and military duty during 
the inquiry, but without waiting for the result, 
he had been superseded in his command, on the 
ground that his continuing in Euzofzai, where 
his corps was stationed, was inconsistent with 
the public interest. This will appear scarcely 
credible, but worse remains behind. 

Ten months after the conclusion of the 
inquiry, in consequence of repeated applications 
from my brother for a minute investigation of 
• his accounts, Major Taylor, as had been men- 
tioned, was appointed to examine them, and on 
the i3tli February, 1856, made his report. The 
document itself is too long and technical for 
publication, but the written opinions I have 
already quoted of Sir U. Napier and Mr. Mont- 
gomery are sufficient to show that it completely 
established Lieutenant Hodson's innocence, 
and cleared him from the grievous and unjust 
imputations cast upon him. Yet in March, 
1857, he discovered that this report had never 
been communicated to the Commander-in- 
Chief, or Secretary to Government. It had 
been quietly laid aside in some office, and no 
more notice taken. Lord Dalhousie left India, 
having heard all that could be said against him, 



OFFICIAL ENMITY. 163 

and nothing in his vindication. I might give 
many other details illustrative of the manner 
in which, even in the nineteenth century, 
official enmity can succeed in crushing one who 
is so unfortunate as to be its victim, and of 
the small chance which exists of redress, but I 
will not weary my readers with them, 

I give a few extracts from my brother *s 
letters at different times in the course of these 
proceedings, to show the spirit in which he 
bore this trial, bitter though it was, peculiarly 
grievous to one of his sensitive feelings on all 
points of honour. 

In August, 1855, he wrote to me : — 

They have not been able, with all their efforts, to 
fix anything whatever upon me ; all their allegations 
(and they were wide enough in their range) have 
fallen to the ground ; and the more serious ones have 
been utterly disproved by the mere production of 
documents and books. The most vicious assertion 
was, that I had been so careless of the public money 
passing through my hands, that I had not only kept no 
proper accounts, but that paper had never been inked on 
the subject, and consequently it would be impossible 
to ascertain whether or not any deficiency existed 
in my regimental treasure chest; and this after I 
had laid my books on the table of the Court, and 
begged that they might be examined, and after I had 
subsequently officially applied for their examination 
by proper accountants. Well, after seven months' 
delay, I was offered the opportunity of producing 

M Qi 



164 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE TROUBLES. 

tliem ; and tlius I have now at last a chance of 
bring-ing out the real state of the case. Up to the 
•present time^ the most critical and hostile examination^ 
lasting a month, has only served to prove my earliest 
assertion, and my only one, that I could give an 
ample account of every farthing of money intrusted 
to me whenever it might please the powers that be 
to inquire into it. The sum total of money repre- 
sented by my account amounts to about 120,000^. 
passing through my hands in small fractional sums of 
receipt and expenditure. 

Not only do they find that I have regular con- 
nected accounts of everything, but that these are sup- 
ported by vouchers and receipts. It has been a severe 
trial, and the prolonged anxiety and distress of the 
past nine months have been nearly insupportable. 

I almost despair of making you, or any one not on 
the spot, understand the ins and outs of the whole 
affair ; and I can only trust to the result, and to the 
eventual production of all the papers, to put things in 
their proper light. In the mean time, I must endea- 
vour to face the wrong, the grievous, foul wrong, 
with a constant and unshaken heart, and to endure 
humiliation and disgrace with as much equanimity as 
I may, and with the same soldier-like fortitude with 
which I ought to face danger, suffering, and death in 
the path of duty. 

Naosherah, JVov. 4th, 1855. 
Your two sad letters came close upon one another, 
but I could not write then. The blow* was over- 
whelming ; coming, too, at a time of unprecedented 
suffering and trial, it was hard to bear up against. 

* The news of his father's death. 



WAITING. 165 

What a year this has been ! What ages of trial 
and of sorrow seem to have been crowded into a 
few short months. Our darling babe was taken 
from us on the day my public misfortunes began^ 
and death has robbed us of our father before their end. 
The brain-pressure was almost too much for me, coming 
as the tidings did at a time of peculiar distress. . . . 
The whole, indeed, is so peculiarly sad that one's 
heart seems chilled and dulled by the very horror of 
the calamity. ... I look with deep anxiety for 
your next letters, but the mail seems exclusively occu- 
pied with Sebastopol, and to have left letters behind. 

Again, to his sister, some months later : — 

I trust fondly that better days are coming ; but 
really the weary watching and waiting for a gleam 
of daylight through the clouds, and never to see it, 
is more harassing and harder to bear up against than 
I could have supposed possible. I have been tried to 
the utmost I do think. A greater weight of 
public and private calamity and sorrow surely never 
fell at once on any individual. But it has to be 
borne, and I try to face it manfully and patiently, and 
to believe that it is for some good and wise end. 

By the way, I was much gratified and surprised at 
seeing, in an article in the Calcutta Revieio written 
and signed by Sir Henry Lawrence, a most flattering 
testimony* to my military character. Coming at 
such a time it is doubly valuable. 



* ' Lieutenant Hodson, who has succeeded to the com- 
' mand of the Guides, is an accomplished soldier, cool in 
' council, daring in actiori, with great natural ability im- 
' proved by education. There are few abler men in any 
' service.' 



166 PRESSURE OE WORK. 

In another letter lie says : — 

It is pleasant indeed to find that not a man who 
knows nae has any belief that there has been anything 
wrong. They think I have been politically wrong 
in not consulting my own interests by propitiating 
the powers that be^ and they know that I am the 
victim of official enmity in high places ; but I am proud 
to say^ that not one of them all (and indeed I believe 
I might include my worst foes and accusers in the 
category) believes that I have committed any more 
than errors of judgment^ and that^ owing to the pres- 
sure of work which came upon me all at once^ and which. 
was more than one man could manage at once, with- 
out leaving something to be done at a more convenient 
season. 

I can honestly say, that for months before I was 
summoned into Peshawur for the inquiry, I had never 
known what a half hour's respite from toil and anxiety 
was ; in fact, ever since I first traced the lines of the 
fort at Murdan, in December, 1853, I was literally 
weighed down by incessant calls on my time and at- 
tention, and went to bed at night thoroughly ex- 
hausted and woi-n out, to rise before daylight to a re- 
newed round of toil and worry. 

I remember telling John Lawrence, that if they 
got rid of me, he would require three men to do the 
work which I had been doing for Government; audit 
lias already proved literally true. They have had to 
appoint three different officers to the work I had done 
single-handed, and that, too, after the worst was 
over ! 



REJOINING REGIMENT. 167 

Umbala, March 25th, 1856. 

Of myself I have little to tell you : things have 
been much in statu quo. Major Taylor^s report, of 
which I am going to send you a copy_, is most 
satisfactory. There is much which you will probably 
not understand in the w^ay of technicalities, but the 
general purport will be clear to you. 

I expect to join my regiment in about three weeks. 
They are marching up from Bengal to Dugshai, a 
hill station sixty miles from hence, and ten from 
Kussowlee and Subathoo respectively, so I shall be 
close to old haunts. I am very glad we shall be in 
a good climate, for though I have not given in or 
failed, I am thankful to say, still the last eighteen 
months have told a good deal upon me, and I am not 
up to heat or work. If the colonel (Welchman) can, 
he is going to give me the adjutancy of the regiment, 
which will be a gain in every way, not only as 
showing to the world that, in spite of all which has 
happened there is nothing against my character, but 
as increasing my income, and giving me the oppor- 
tunity of learning a good deal of work which will be 
useful to me, and of doing, I hope, a good deal of 
good amongst the men. It will be the first step up 
the ladder again, after tumbling to the bottom. 

Soon afterwards, Lieutenant Hodson rejoined 
the ist Fusiliers at Dugshai. It may be 
necessary, for the sake of unprofessional 
readers, to explain that during the whole time 
that he had been Assistant-Commissioner in 
the Punjab, or in command of the Gruides, lie 



168 MR. C. RAIKES. 

had continued to belong to this regiment, as 
political or staff appointments in India do 
not dissolve an officer's connexion with his 
own regiment. 

On April 8th he writes from Dngshai : — 

I have but little to tell you to cheer you 

on my account. My health which had stood the trial 
wonderfully, was beginning to fail, but I shall soon 
be strong again in this healthy mountain air, 7000 
feet above the sea. 

This is a great thing, but it is very hard to begin 
again as a regimental subaltern after nearly eleven 
years^ hard work. However, I am very fond of the 
profession, and there is much to be done, and much 
learnt, and, under any other circumstances, I should 
not regret being with English soldiers again for a 
time. Everyone believes that I shall soon be righted, 
but the ' soon ^ is a long time coming. I was much 
gratified the other day by an unexpected visit from 
Mr. Charles Raikes, one of the Punjab Commissioners, 
who was passing through Umbala, on his way to 
take a high appointment at Agra. I had no personal 
knowledge of him, but he came out of his way to 
call upon me, and express his sympathy and his 
appreciation of (what he was pleased to call) my high 
character. 

He said much that was encouraging and pleasing, 
which I need not repeat. It served pleasantly, how- 
ever, to show that the tide was turning, and that in 
good men^s minds my character stood as high as ever. 

In addition to his other troubles, my brother 



MR. C RAIKES. 169 

was suffering all this time from a dislocated 
ankle. He says in June : — 

I have nothing to tell you of myself, save that I 
have to-day, for the first time for eight weeks, put 
my foot to the ground; I cannot, however, yet walk 
a yard without crutches. 



DuGSHAi, Sept. 24th, 1856. 

I strive to look the worst boldly in the face as I 
would an enemy in the field, and to do my appointed 
work resolutely and to the best of my ability, 
satisfied that there is a reason for all ; and that even 
irksome duties well done bring their own reward, 
and that if not, still they are duties. 

But it is sometimes hard to put up with the 
change ! I am getting a little stronger on my ankle, 
but am still unable, at the end of five months, to do 
more than walk about the house. Fancy my not 
being able to walk 200 yards for half a-year. 



DUGSHAI, JVov. 6th. 
I yearn to be at home again and see you all, but 
I am obliged to check all such repinings and longings, 
and keep down all canker cares and bitternesses, and 
set my teeth hard and will earnestly to struggle on 
and do my allotted work as well and cheerfully as m 
be, satisfied that in the end a brighter time 
come. 

I know nothing in my brother's whole 
career more truly admirable, or showing more 



170 REGIMENTAL DUTIES. 

real heroism, than his conduct at this period 
while battling with adverse fates. 

Deeply as he felt the change in his position, 
lie accommodated himself to it in a manner 
that won the admiration and esteem of all. 
Instead of despising his regimental duties, irk- 
some and uninteresting, comparatively speak- 
ing, as they were, he discharged them with a 
zeal and energy, as well as cheerfulness, which 
called forth the following strong expressions 
of commendation from the colonel of his regi- 
ment. They are taken from a letter addressed 
to the Adjutant-General of the army : — 

' Umbala, Jan. i8th, 1857. 
. . / I consider it a duty^ and at the same time feel a 
'' great pleasure^ in requesting you to submit^ for the 
' consideration of his Excellency the Commander-in- 
' Chief, this my public record and acknowledgment 
' of the very essential service Lieutenant Hodson has 
' done the regiment at my special request. On the 
' arrival of the regiment at Dugshai I asked Lieu- 
' tenant Hodson to act as quartermaster. I pointed 
' out to him that, mainly owing to a rapid succession of 
^quartermasters when the regiment was on field-service, 
' the office had fallen into very great disorder ; . . and 
' that he would have to restore order out of com- 
' plicated disorder, and to organize a more efficient 
' working system for future guidance and observance. 
' To my great relief and satisfaction. Lieutenant Hod- 
' son most cheerfully undertook the onerous duties ; 
' he was suffering at the same time severe bodily 



TESTIMONY OF COLONEL WELCHMAN. 171 

' paiiij consequent on a serious acciclent_, yet this did 
' not in any way damp his energy, or prevent his 
' most successfully carrying out the object in view. . . 
' It is impossible to do otherwise than believe that 
' this officer's numerous qualifications are virtually lost 
' to the State by his being employed as a regimental 
' subaltern, as he is fitted for, and capable of doing 
'' great justice to, any stafi" situation ; and I am con- 
' vinced, that should his Excellency receive with 
' approval this solicitation to confer on him some 
' appointment suited to the high ability, energy, and 
' zeal which I fear I have but imperfectly brought to 
'notice, it would be as highly advantageous to the 
' service as gratifying to myself. An officer whose 
' superior mental acquirements are fully acknowledged 
' by all who know him ; who has ably performed the 
' duties of a civil magistrate in a disturbed district ; 
' whose knowledge of engineering has been practi- 
' cally brought into play in the construction of a fort 
' on the North- Western frontier ; whose gallant con- 
' duct in command of a regiment in many a smart 
' engagement has been so highly commended, and by 
' such competent authorities, is one whom I have con- 
' fidence in recommending for advancement ; and in 
'earnestly, yet most respectfully, pressing the reeom- 
' mendation, I plead this officer's high qualifications 
' as my best apology. . . . 

' I have, &c. 
(Signed) ' J. Welchman, 

' Lieut.-Col. Commanding ist Bengal 
' FvsiliersJ 

Quite as strong was the testimony borne by 
Brigadier-General Johnstone : — 



172 GENERAL JOHNSTONE. 

' To the Adjutant-Geneeal of the Army. 

' SiRHiND Division, Head Quarters, Umbala, 
Ja7i. '^oth, 1857. 
' Sir, — My mere countersignature to Colonel 
Welshman's letter in favour of Lieutenant Hodson 
seems so mucli less than the occasion demands, that 
I trust his Excellency will allow of my submitting 
it in a more special and marked manner. I beg to 
accompany Colonel Welchman's letter with a testi- 
mony of my own to the high character of the 
officer in question. 
' Rejoining his regiment as a lieutenant, from the 
exercise of an important command calling daily for 
the display of his energy, activity, and ^elf-reliance, 
and frequently for the manifestation of the highest 
qualities of the partisan leader, or of the regular 
soldier. Lieutenant Hodson, with patience, perse- 
verance, and zeal undertook and carried out the 
laborious minor duties of the regimental staff as 
well as those of a company ; and with a diligence, 
method, and accuracy such as the best trained 
regimental officers have never surpassed, succeeded, 
in a manner fully justifying the high commendation 
bestowed on him by his commanding officer. As a 
soldier in the field. Lieutenant Hodson has gained 
the applause of officers of the highest reputation, 
eye-witnesses of his ability and courage. On the 
testimony of others, I refer to these, and that 
testimony so honourable to his name I beg here- 
with to submit to his Excellency. 
' On my own observation, I am enabled to speak to 
* Lieutenant Hodson's character and qualities in 



WINTER CAMP. 173 

'' quarters^ and I do so in terms of well-earned eom- 
' mendation^ and at the same time in the earnest 
' hope that his merits and qualifications will obtain 
' for him such favour and preferment at the hands of 
' his Excellency as he may deem fit to bestow on 
' this deserving ofiicer. 

' I have^ &c. 
(Signed) 'M. C. Johnstone^ 

'Brigadier-General, <fcc.' 

I must add a few more extracts from Lieu- 
tenant Hodson's letters to myself and others, to 
complete this part of his history : — 

DuGSHAi, April "jth, 1857. 
Your letter written this day three months reached 
me at Umbala^ at our mildest of ' Chobhams' in the 
middle of February, and deserved an earlier reply, 
but I have been quite taken out of the private corres- 
pondence line lately, by incessant calls on my time. 
B;egimental work in camp in India, with European 
regiments, no less than in quarters, is contrived to 
cut up one^s time into infinitesimal quantities, and 
keep one waiting for every other half-hour through 
the day. I had more time for writing when I com- 
manded a frontier regiment, and governed a province ! 
These winter camps are very profitable, however, and 
not by any means unpleasant ; and as Umbala was 
very full, we had an unusual amount of society for 
India, and some very pleasant meetings. I was too 
lame to dance, but not to dine, and take part in 
charades or tableaux, and so forth, and so contrived 
to keep alive after the day's work was over. I got 
some KvSoc and vast kindness for performing the 



174 GENERAL ANSON. 

more strictly professional role of brigade-major to 
one of the infantry brig-adeSj and had excellent oppor- 
tunities of learning the essential^ but so seldom 
taught or learned^ art of manoeuvring bodies of troops. 
My service has been so much on the frontier and 
with detached corps, that I had previously had but 
small opportunities for the study. T had an interview 
with General Anson the other day_, and I hope a 
satisfactory one. He is a very pleasant mannered and 
gentlemanly man, open and frank in speech, and 
quick to a proverb in apprehension, taking in the 
pith of a matter at a glance. As I always thought, 
it turned out that Major Taylor's report had never 
reached the Commander-in-Chief, and they had only 
the old one-sided story to go upon. I explained the 
whole to him, and as he had already very kindly 
read the papers relating to the matter, he quite 
comprehended it, and begged me to give him a copy 
of Taylor's report, when he would, if satisfied, try 
and see justice done me. I trust, therefore, that at 
last something will be done to clear me from all 
stigma in the matter. As soon as that is done he 
will give me some appointment or other, unless 
Government do it themselves. Sir Henry Lawrence 
writes to me most kindly, and is only waiting a 
favourable opportunity to help me. 

We are in a state of some anxiety, owing to the 
spread of a very serious spirit of disaffection among 
the Sepoy army. One regiment (the 19th of the 
line) has already been disbanded, and, if all have 
their dues, more yet will be so before long. It is our 
great danger in India, and Lord Hardinge's prophecy, 
that our biggest fight in India would be with our 



HOPES OF REDRESS. 175 

own army, seems not unlikely to be realized, and 
that before long. Native papers, education, and 
progress are against keeping 200,000 native merce- 
naries in hand. 

To a Friend in Calcutta. 

DuGSHAi, May ^th, 1857. 

Unless I hear of something to my advantage 
meanwhile, I propose starting for Calcutta about the 
middle of this merry month of May, with the object 
of endeavouring to effect by personal appeal and ex- 
planations the self-vindication which no mere paper 
warfare seems likely to extort from Government. I 
had waited patiently for nearly two years, 'striving to 
be quiet and do my own business,' in the hope that 
justice, however tardy, would certainly overtake me, 
when an incident occurred which showed that I must 
adopt a more active mode of procedure if I wished 
for success. On applying for employment with the 
force in Persia, I met with a refusal, on the ground of 
what had occurred when in command of the Guides. 
This you will allow was calculated to drive a man to 
extremities who had been under the impression all 
along that his conduct, whensoever and howsoever 
called in question, had been amply vindicated. 

It appeai-ed that while everything to my dis- 
advantage had been carefully communicated by the 
Punjab authorities to army head-quarters, they had, 
with true liberality and generosity, suppressed '' in 
toto' the results of the subsequent inquiry which had, 
in the opinion of all good men, amply cleared my 
good name from the dirt lavished on it. Even the 
secretaries to Government had never heard of this 



176 PROPOSED JOURNEY TO CALCUTTA. 

vindication^ and were going on believing all manner 
of things to my discredit. Lord Canning also being 
utterly ignorant of the fact that subsequently to Lord 
Dalhousie^s departure^ the results of the second inves- 
tigation had been communicated to Government. 

There were clearly three courses open to me_, ^ k la 
Sir Robert Peel.' 

ist. Suicide. 

and. To resign the service in disgust and join the 
enemy. 

3rd. To make the Governor-General eat his words 
and apologize. 

I chose the last. 

The first was too melodramatic and foreign; the 
second would have been a triumph to my foes in the 
Punjab ; besides^ the enemy might have been beaten ! 

I have determined, therefore, on a trip to Calcutta. 

You will, I have no doubt, agree with me that I am 
perfectly right in taking the field against the enemy, 
and not allowing the Government to rest until I 
have carried my point. 

In anotlier letter of the same date : — 

I have had another interview with General Anson 
at Simla, and nothing could have been more satis- 
factory. He was most polite, even cordial, and while 
he approved of my suggestion of going down to Cal- 
cutta to have personal explanations with the people 
there, and evidently thought it a plucky idea to un- 
dertake a journey of 2500 miles in such weather 
(May and June), yet he said that I had better wait 
till I heard again from him, for he would write him- 
self to Lord Canning, and try to get justice done me. 



OUTBREAK OF MUTINY. 177 

I do trust the light is breaking through the dark- 
ness, and that before long I may have good news to 
send you, in which I am sure you will rejoice. 

It did break from a most unexpected 
quarter. 

Tliis was tlie last letter receiTed in England 
from my brother for some months. Six days 
after it was written, the outbreak at Meerut 
occurred, and almost immediately India was 
in a blaze. 

' Portunate was it' (my brother afterwards 
said) ^ that I was delayed by General Anson 
' till he received an answer from Lord Canning, 
' or I should undoubtedly have been murdered 
' at some station on the road. The answer 
' never came. It must have been between Cal- 
' cutta and Allygurh when disturbances broke 
* out, and was, with all the daks for many days, 
' destroyed or plundered.' 

Most fortunate, too, was it (if we may use 
such an expression), that in the hour of India's 
extremity, Lieutenant Hod son was within 
reach of the Commander-in-Chief, and avail- 
able for service. It was no longer a time to 
stand on ofl&cial etiquette. In that crisis, which 
tried the bravest to the utmost, when a strong 
will and cool head and brave heart were 
needed, he at once rose again to his proper 
place in counsel and in action. 



178 TURN OF FORTUNE. 

But I must not anticipate what belongs to 
the next chajDter. One fact, however, I cannot 
refrain from stating here, as an appropriate 
conclusion of this narrative, that within six 
weeks of the date of the last letter. Lieutenant 
Hodson was actually commanding in the field, 
before the walls of Delhi, by General Barnard's 
special request, -the very corps of Guides from 
which he had been so unjustly ousted two years 
before. 

' Was there ever,' he says in reference to it, 
' a stranger turn on the wbeel of fortune ? I 
' have much cause to be grateful, and I hope I 
' shall not forget the bitter lessons of 
' adversity.' 



PART II. 

XAERATIVE OF THE DELHI CAMPAIGN, 1857. 



CHAPTER I. 

MARCH DOWN TO DELHI. 

(~\^ the loth May occurred the outbreak at 
^ Meerut, closely followed by the massacre 
at Delhi. 

On the 13th, orders were received at Dugshai, 
from the Commander-in-Chief, for the ist 
Bengal European Fusiliers to march without 
delay to TJmbala, where all the regiments from 
the hill stations were to concentrate. They 
set out that afternoon, and reached Umbala, a 
distance of sixty miles, on the morning of the 
second day. Erom this point Lieutenant 
Hodson's narrative commences. It is com- 
piled from the letters or bulletins which he 
sent day by day to his wife, written as best 
they might, in any moments which he could 
snatch from the overwhelming press of work, 
sometimes on the field, sometimes on horse- 
back. It is almost unnecessary to observe, 

N 2 



180 DELHI CAMPAIGN. 

tliat they were not intended for tlie public eye, 
and would never have been published had my 
lamented brother been alive, as he had the 
greatest horror of any of his letters appearing 
in print. Now, unhappily, the case is different, 
and I -feel, in common with many of his 
friends, that in justice both to himself and to 
the gallant band who formed the ' army before 
Delhi,' this record of heroic fortitude and 
endurance ought not to be withheld. It does 
not profess to be a history of the siege, or mili- 
tary operations connected with it ; though it 
is a most valuable contribution to any history, 
as Lieutenant Hodson, from his position as 
head of the Intelligence Department, knew 
better, probably, than any other m.an what 
was going on both amongst the enemy and in 
our own force ; and his incidental notices will 
tell, better, perhaps, than the most laboured 
description, what our men did and what they 
suffered. Full justice will probably never be 
done them, nor their trying position appre- 
ciated as it ought to be ; besiegers in name, 
though more truly besieged ; exposed to inces- 
sant attacks night and day; continually thinned 
in numbers by the sword, the buUet, the sun- 
stroke, and cholera, and for many weeks 
receiving no reinforcements ; feeling sometimes 
as if they were forgotten by then' countrymen. 



CHEERFUL SPIRIT. 181 

and yet holding their ground against a nation 
in arms, without murmuring or complaining, 
and with unshaken determination. All ac- 
counts agree in speaking of the cheerful and 
' plucky' spirit that prevailed, both amongst 
officers and men, notwithstanding fatigue, pri- 
vation, and sickness, as something quite 
remarkable even amongst British soldiers. 
And if there was one more than another who 
contributed to inspire and keep up this spirit, 
if there was one more than another who 
merited that which a Boman would have con- 
sidered the highest praise, that he never de- 
spaired of his country, it was Lieutenant 
Hodson. I have seen a letter from a dis- 
tinguished officer, in which he says : — 

* Aifairs at times looked very queer, from the 
' frightful expenditure of life. Hodson' s face 
' was then like sunshine breaking through 
' the dark clouds of despondency and gloom 
' that would settle down occasionally on all but 
' a few brave hearts, England's worthiest sons, 
' who were determined to conquer.' 

If any should be disposed to think that my 
brother, in these letters, speaks too exclusively 
of his own doings, they must remember, in the 
first place, to whom they were addressed ; and 
secondly, that in describing events — quorum 



182 DELHI CAMPAIGN. 

pars magna fuit — it would be almost impossible 
not to speak of himself. 

He liimself, even in writing to his wife, 
thinks it necessary to apologize for being 
' egotistical.' I believe, on the other hand, 
that the highest interest of the following nar- 
rative will be found to consist in its being 
a personal narrative, a history of the man, 
an unreserved outspeaking of his mind and 
feelings ; nor am I afraid of others thinking 
apology called for. Nor, however much they 
may disagree from his criticisms on men and 
measures, will they deny that he was well 
qualified, both by his opportunities of observa- 
tion at the time, and his past experience of 
Asiatic character, to form a judgment and 
express an opinion without exposing himself to 
the charge of presumption. 

UmbIla, May i^th, 1857. 
We got here after two nights of very harassing 
marohing. We started badly, the men having been 
drinking before they came to parade, and they were 
hurried too much in going down hill, consequently 
there was much straggling; but, thanks to tattoos 
(ponies) and carts and elephants, sent out to meet 
us, we got in to-day in tolerable completeness. Affairs 
are very serious, and unless very prompt and vigorous 
measures are taken, the whole army, and perhaps a 
large portion of India, will be lost to us. Delhi is in 
the hands of the mutineers — no European that we 



ALARM AND INDECISION. 183 

can hear of being left alive there — men, women, and 
children, all who were caught, have been butchered ! 
Brigadier Graves, Abbott, and some others have es- 
caped. Willoughby, the Ordnance Commissary in 
charge of the magazine and arsenal, is said to have 
fired it himself to prevent the mutineers having pos- 
session of the contents to arm themselves with — of 
course, sacrificing his own life to such a duty. A lac 
and a half of muskets would otherwise have been in 
the hands of the insurgents. The Com-mander-in- 
Chief came in this morning. Here alarm is the pre- 
valent feeling, and conciliation, of men with arms ia 
their hands and in a state of absolute rebellion, the 
order of the day. This system, if pursued, is far more 
dangerous than anything the Sepoys can do to us. 
There is an outbreak at Ferozepoor, but the Europeans 
have the fort in their possession ; if not, we should be 
without arms, for the regiments here have no ammu- 
nition, and Philour, our nearest source of supply, was 
nearly falling into the hands of the Sepoys. Even 
now, some say it is at their mercy. Fortunately the 
Maharaja of Puttiala is stanch, and so are other 
Sikh chiefs hereabouts. We shall go on to Delhi in 
a few days. That city is in the hands of the in- 
surgents, and the king proclaimed Emperor of Hindoo- 
stan ! I do trust that the authorities will act with 
vigour, else there is no knowing where the affair will 
end. Oh for Sir Charles Napier now ! 

1 6tA. — Little is known for certain of what is 
going on, as there is no communication with, or from, 
below. At present, the native troops have all gone 
ofi" bodily; none remain in cantonments. We march, 
I believe, on Monday — 9th Lancers, 75th Queen's, ist 



184 DELHI CAMPAIGN. 

Fusilier&, and nine guns, taking the 5tli, 6oth Native 
Infantry and 4th Cavalry with us — nice companions ! 
However, they can do us no harm, and they might 
do great mischief if left here. There has been an out- 
break at Ferozepoor and Philour, but the magazine 
and bridge at the jfirst place are safe in the hands of 
her Majesty^s 60th, and the authorities at Jullundur 
sent off a party of Europeans and Hoi'se Artillery at 
once, who secured the fort at Philour ; otherv/ise we 
should have had no ammunition but what the soldiers 
carried in their pouches. The times are critical, but 
I have no fear of aught save the alarm and indecision 
of our rulers. All here is sheer confusion, and there 
is a tendency to treat these rebellious Sepoys with a 
tenderness as misplaced as it would be pernicious. 
There is actually a talk of concentrating troops, and 
waiting to be joined by others before marching on 
Delhi ; and they utterly refuse to detach even a party 
on Kurnal to protect the officers and treasury there. 
This is all very sad, and sometimes makes one disposed 
to question whether we are not suffering from the 
' dementia' which Providence sends as the forerunner 
of ruin. However, our course is not yet run, and 
whatever clouds may gather over us, there are good 
results in store. The Punjab is quiet. The native 
troops at Mean-Meer were quietly disarmed, and do 
their guards with bayonets only. This excellent ar- 
rangement is Sir. John Lawrence's doinff. Nothins^ 
is known of Lucknow, or indeed of any place below 
Meerut. Allygurh is supposed to have gone. Some 
details of the massacre at Delhi, which I have just 
heard from one of the escapees, are awful beyond 
belief. Charlie Thomason is said to have escaped, but 



APPOINTMENT TO INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT. 185 

Miss Jennings^ the clergyman's daughter to whom 
he was engaged^ was among the victims. Mr. 
Beresford, his wife, and five daughters all massacred. 
Poor Colonel Ripley lived long enough to say he was 
killed by his own men. De Teissier's native artillery- 
men joined the rebels with their guns — he escaped, 
though severely wounded. 

\']t]i. — We are all terribly anxious about the 
hill stations, reports having reached us that the 
Goorkhas have mutinied and attacked Simla. loo 
men, with ammunition, have gone off this morning to 
Kussowlie. Dugshai is easily defended. Simla is 

most to be feared All this has put out 

of my head for the time the good news for us. 
Yesterday, I was sent for by the Commander-in- 
Chief, and appointed Assistant Quartermaster-Gene- 
ral on his personal staff, to be under the immediate 
orders of his Excellency, and with command to 
raise loo horse and 50 foot, for service in the In- 
telligence Department, and as personal escort. All 
this was done, moreover, in a most complimentary 
way, and it is quite in my line. I am prepared to 
set to work vigorously ; but I confess my anxiety 
on account of the reports w^e hear respecting the 
hill stations makes me cruelly anxious. .... 
General Anson, it seems, wrote about me to Talbot, 
but could get no answer before the outbreak oc- 
curred, which makes this act of his, on his own 
responsibility, the more complimentary. It is very 
uncertain now when we move on. All is quiet in 
the Punjab, I am thankful to say, and the rebels 
have had a lesson read them at Ferozepoor which 
will do good. The 45th Native Infantry were nearly 



186 DELHI CAMPAIG]?^. 

cut to pieces by the i oth Light Cavahy^* who pur- 
sued them for twelve miles^ and cut them to pieces. 
This last is a great fact. One regiment at least 
has stood by us, and the moral effect will be great : 
nothing known yet from below. Poor Macdonald, 
of the 2oth Native Infantry, his wife, and their 
three babes, murdered, with adjuncts not to be men- 
tioned. John Lawrence is acting with great vigour, 
and they have organized a moveable force at 
Jhelum, composed of her Majesty's 24th and 27th, 
the Guides, Kumaon Battalion, and other Irregu- 
lars, to move in any required direction. Montgomery 
writes in great spirits and confidence from Lahore. 
I am just sent for by the chief. 

KuRNAL, May \Wi. — According to orders, I left 
Umb^la at 8 30 p.m., and reached here at 4 30 a.m., 
having prepared everything at Peeplee en route. I 
had only ^Bux'f with me, and did not apprehend 
any danger until within a few miles of Kurnal, but 
nothing whatever happened; the road was deserted, 
and not a soul to be seen. I am sheltered in a house 
occupied by the refugees from Delhi and the civil 
officers of Kurnal, about fifteen in all, with Mrs. 
Wagentrieber, her husband, and sundry sergeants, 
&c. The European troops will be here to-night. 
What would I not give for a couple hundred of my 
old Guides ! I flatter myself I could do something 
then. As it is, I must bide my time until I can get 
a few good men together on whom I can depend. I 
have been so busy all day, writing letters on my knee, 
sending ofi" electric messages, cum multis aliis. I can 



They afterwards mutinied t His bearer. 



NEW REGIMENT. 187 

but rejoice that I am employed again; certain, too, 
as I am, that the star of Old England will shine the 
brighter in the end, and we shall hold a prouder 
position than ever. But the crisis is an awful 
one ! 

May \()th. — This morning the Commander-in- 
Chief ordered me to raise and command an entire 
new regiment of Irregular Horse. I do not know 
who or what has been at work for me, but he 
seems willing enough to give me work to do, and I 
am willing enough to do it. The European troops 
arrived this morning (I sent a telegraphic message to 
say so); and the Hajah of Jheend, with his men, last 
night. I have offered to clear the road and open the 
communication to Meerut and Delhi with the HajaVs 
Horse. If the Chief will consent, I think I am sure 
of success. It is believed that nothing has occurred 
at Agra. The Punjab all quiet up to last night ; as 
long as that is the case we shall do. With God and 
our Saxon arms to aid us, I have firm faith in.the 
result. 

loth. — Deep anxiety about the safety of the hill 
stations continues unabated ; no letters — no certainty 
— only rumours. Were it not for this, I should 
enter with full zest into the work before me, and the 
fresh field which I owe to General Anson^s kindness. 
He has at last consented to my trying to open com- 
munication with Meerut, so I start this afternoon to 
try to make my way across with a party of the Jheend 
Horse; and I have, under Providence, little doubt of 
success, thougli I would rather have a party of my 
dear old Guides. There has been an outbreak at 
Agra, but all the Europeans are shut up in the fort ; 



1S8 DELHI CAMPAIGN. 

Allygurh and Moradabad have mutinied, but by God^s 
help we shall get safely through. 

loth, % P.M. — Just one line to say I am starting, 
and shall not be able to write to-morrow or next day. 
Still no tidings from the hills ! This is a terrible 
additional pull upon one's nerves at a time like this, 
and is a phase of war I never calculated on. 

May 24.th. — I returned from ray expedition to 
Meerut late last night. It was eminently successful, 
and I am off immediately to Umbala to report pro- 
gress to the Chief. Much relieved by a letter from 
you. 

Q.^th. — A hurried line only to say I am safe and 
well, but dead beat. I went yesterday to Umbala 
by mail cart to report to the Commander-in-Chief. 
Got there at 6 p.m., and started back again at ii p.m. 
As I have only had one night in bed out of five, I am 
tolerably weary. The Commander-in-Chief arrived 
this morning. I will give you more particulars when 
I have slept. 

From a letter written from camp before 
Delhi, in August, to Colonel D. Seaton : — 

. . . ' As soon as the Commander-in-Chief reached 
' Umbala he sent for me, and put me in charge of 
' the Intelligence Department, as an Assistant 
' Quartermaster-General under his personal orders. I 
^ left Umbala by mail-cart that night for Kurnal, ascer- 
^ tained the state of things, made arrangements for the 
' protection and shelter of the advanced party, and 
' offered to open the road to Meerut, from Kurnal. 
' He replied by telegraph. Seventy-two hours after- 
' wards, I was back in Kurnal, and telegraphed to him 



RIDE TO MEERUT. 189 

' that I had forced my way to Meerut^"^ and obtained 
' all the papers he wanted from the general there. 
' These I gave him four honrs later in Umbala. The 
' pace pleased him^ I fancy, for he ordered me to raise 
' a Corps of Irregular Horse, and appointed me com- 
' mandant. 



Ma9/ i^th, Evening. — I wrote this morning a few 
hurried lines to keep you from anxiety. I was too 
tired to do more, the continued nightwork had 
wearied me out, and when I got back here at half- 
past six this morning I was fairly dead beat. Poor 



* Letter from an Officer. 
'When the mutiny broke out, our communications 
' were completely cut off. One night, on outlying picket 
'at Meerut, this subject being discussed, I said, " Hodson 
' is at Umbala, I know ; and I'll bet he will force his way 
' through, and open communications with the Com- 
' mander-in-Chief and ourselves." At about three that 
' night I heard my advanced sentiies firing. I rode off 
' to see what was the matter, and they told me that a 
' party of enemy's cavalry had approached their post. 
'When day broke, in galloped Hoclson. He had left 
' Kurnal (seventy-six miles off) at nine the night before, 
' with one led horse and an escort of Sikh cavalry, and, 
' as I had anticipated, here he was with despatches for 
' Wilson ! How I quizzed him for approaching an armed 
' post at night without knowing the parole. Hodson 
' rode straight to Wilson, had his interview, a bath, 
' breakfast, and two hours' sleep, and then rode back the 
' seventy-six miles, and had to fight his way for about 
' thirty miles of the distance.' 

Another ofiicer, writing to his wife at this time, says : — 

* Hodson's gallant deeds more resemble a chapter from 

* the life of Bayard or Amadis de Gaul, than the doings 

' of a subaltern of the nineteenth century. The only 

' feeling mixed with my admiration for him is envy.' 



190 DELHI CAMPAIGN. 

Charlie Thomason is with me. I am happy to have 
been in some measure instrumental in getting him 
in in safety, by offering a heavy sum to the villagers. 
He had been wandering about in the jungles, with 
several other refugees, for days, without food or 
shelter. I am deeply grieved for him, poor fellow ! 
He was engaged to Miss Jennings, the chaplain's 
daughter at Delhi, and both father and daughter are 
among the victims of that dreadful massacre. Even 
infants were massacred. The state of panic at 
Meerut was shocking ; all the ladies shut up in an 
enclosed barrack, and their husbands sleeping in the 
men^s barracks for safety, and never going beyond 
the sentries. 

General Hewitt is in a state of helpless imbecility. 
The best and boldest spirit there was our friend 
Alfred Light, doing his work manfully and well. 
He had had some miraculous escapes. My com- 
mission is to raise a body of Irregular Horse on the 
usual rates of pay and the regular complement of 
native officers, but the number of troops to be 
unlimited — i.e., I am to raise as many men as I please ; 
2000 if I can get them. The worst of it is, the 
being in a part of the country I do not know, and the 
necessity of finding men who can be trusted. Mr. 
Montgomery is aiding me wonderfully. He called 
upon some of my old friends among 'the Sirdars to 
raise men for me. Shumshere Singh is raising one 
troop ; Tej Singh ditto ; Emaumoodeen ditto ; Mr. 
Montgomery himself one or two ditto. All these will 
be ready in about three weeks. I am to remain 
Assistant Quartermaster- General, attached to the 
Commander-in-Chief. This allows me free access to 



DEATH OF GENERAL ANSON. 191 

him at any time^ and to other people in authority, 
which gives me power for good. The Intelligence 
Department is mine exclusively, and I have for this 
line Sir Henry^s old friend, the one-eyed Moulvie, 
Rujub Alee, so I shall get the best news in the 
country. Montgomery has come out very, very 
strong indeed, and behaved admirably. The native 
regiments at Peshawur have been disarmed. One at 
Naoshera (the 55th) was sent over to occupy 
Murdan in the absence of the Guides. They have 
mutinied, and seized the fort, and confined the Assis- 
tant-Commissioner. General Cotton is going against 
them, and the Euzofzai folks will do their best to 
prevent a man escaping. As yet the Punjab is quiet, 
and the Irregulars true. The Guides are coming 
down here by forced marches. 

Camp, Paneeput, i']tli. — I wrote to you this 
morning, but as I shall not probably be in the way 
of daks to-morrow, I write a few lines to be sent 
after I start onwards. You will have heard of the 
sad death of General Anson. ' He was taken with 
cholera yesterday, and died without pain from collapse 
this morning. He made over command to General 
Barnard with his last breath. Sir Henry only 
arrived from Umb^la just in time. His death is 
politically a vast misfortune just at this crisis, and 
personally I am deeply grieved, and the natives will 
be highly elated. I am even now hard at work, 
raising my men, or taking means to do so, and have 
already had applications for officers ; but I shall not 
settle on officers till the men begin to collect, and 
this time I . will take care to have none but gentle- 
men, if I can help it. I am going downwards to- 



192 DELHI CAMPAIGN. 

niglit to look after the bridge* on this side of Delhi, 
about thirty miles hence, by which the Meerut 
troops will move to join us. I take the Jheend 
Horse ; Colonel T. Seaton is commanding the 6oth 
Native Infantry, and will be here to-night with them. 
I don't envy him his new command, but he is a good 
man, and a brave soldier, and if any man can get 
them over the mess, he will do it. Sir H. Barnard 
is a fine gentlemanly old man, but hardly up to his 
work. However, we must all put our shoulders to 
the wheel, and help him over the crisis. I trust he 
will act with vigour, for we have delayed far too 
long already. 

1()tli. — There is nothing new. I travelled 
eighty miles between 3 p.m. yesterday, and ten 
this morning, besides heaps of business. I am tired, 
I confess, for the heat is awful. The treasuries are 
empty, and no drafts are to be cashed, so how we 
are to get money I cannot imagine. We hear that 
a request has gone to Lord Canning to send for 
Pat Grant as Commander-in-Chief, pending in- 
structions. I grieve for poor General Anson, and 
I ought to do so, for he was a good friend to me. 

SuMALKA, Q^otli. — My earnest representations and 
remonstrances seem at last to have produced some 
effect, for at 7 p.m. yestei'day we got an order to 
move on. The head-quarters follow us to-night from 
Kurnal. The Sve,^ means three squadrons of 9th 
Lancers, Money's troop of Horse Artillery, and ist 
Fusiliers. Brigadier Hallifax is in command, but so 
ill from heat and anxiety, that I begin to be anxious 

* At Bhagput. 



MARCH TO DELHI. 193 

about him^ and whether he will be able to remain 
with the force is doubtful. Colonel T. Seaton has 
gone on to Rohtuck with the 6oth Native Infantry^ 
whoj I have no doubt^ will desert to a man as soon 
as they get there. It is very plucky of him and the 
other officers to go ; and very hard of the authorities 
to send them ; a half-hearted measure^ and very dis- 
creditable^ in my opinion, to all concerned j affording 
a painful contrast to Sir John Lawrence^s bold and 
decided conduct in this crisis. The old Guides are to 
be here on the 8th or loth to join us. The heat 
here is a caution, and writing in this melting climate 
anything but easy, especially as chairs and tables are 
not common. This regiment (ist Fusiliers) is a 
credit to any army, and the fellows are in as high 
spirits and heart, and as plucky and free from croaking 
as possible, and really do good to the whole force. 

KussowLEE, May ^ist. — Here we are one more 
stage on our road to Delhi; we are, however, to halt 
a couple of days or so at the next stage (E,aee), to 
await the arrival of General Barnard. Poor Brio^adier 
Hallifax was so ill that he would clearly have died 
had he remained here, so we had a medical committee, 
put him into my shigram (a travelling wagon), and 
sent him off to Kurnal for Umbala and the hills. I 
sent a telegraphic message for Mrs. Hallifax to meet 
him at Umbala. This is but the beginning of this 
work, I fear ; and before this business ends, we who 
are, thank God, still young and strong shall alone 
be left in camp ; all the elderly gentlemen will sink 
under the fatigue and exposure. I think of asking 
for Mr. Macdov^ell as my second in command ; he is 
a gentleman_, and only wants opportunity to become 

o 



194 MAK.CH TO DELHI. 

a gallant soldier. The whole onus of work here is 
on my shoulders ; every one comes to me for advice 
and assistance^ which is purely absurd. I shall do 
all the work and others get the credit^ as usual ; but 
in these days we cannot afford to spare ourselves. 
The Empire is at stake^ and all we love and reverence 
is in the balance. I tried to persuade them to send 
General Johnstone to Meerut to supersede Hewitt. 
I wish he had been there and was here ; we have 
few as good. 

E/AEB, Jime ist. — I have just been roused up from 
the first sleep I have had^ for I don^t know how long, 
(lying under a peepul tree_, with a fine breeze like 
liquid fire blowing over me), by the news that the dak is 
going, so I can only say that all is well, and that we 
are here, about twenty miles from Delhi, and I hope 
ere night to capture some of the rascals who stripped 
and ill-treated two ladies near this the other day on 
their flight to the hills. 

Colonel Hope Grrant has arrived to command the 
force until General Barnard comes, which will be on the 
4th, and the Meerut people also. The Delhi mutineers 
marched out ten miles, and attacked Brigadier Wil- 
son on the night of the 30th, at Ghazeenuggur, on his 
way to this place. He drove them back, and captured 
all their guns. Some 8000 or 10,000 of them came 
out, and he had only about 1000 men. Long odds, 
this ; but of course all his men were Europeans. I 
fear the 14th Irregulars have joined the mutineers. 
If they would only make haste and get to Delhi we 
might do something. 

Raee, 2,nd. — You will have been as much shocked as 
I was by the tidings of poor Brigadier Hallifax^s death 



MARCH TO DELHI. 195 

at Kurnal^ only a few hours after I had put him into 
the carriage, with the comfortable assurance that his 
wife would meet him at Umbala. He died from 
congestion of the brain. I have been much affected 
by thisj for I had a warm regard for him, and 
his very helplessness the last few days seemed to 
strengthen the tie. I feel deeply for his poor wife 
and children. Colonel Mowat of the artillery is 
dead too, of cholera. The weather is undoubtedly 
very trying for old and infirm men ; but we are all 
well here, and there is no sickness to speak of among 
the troops. All will be here to-morrow. Head- 
quarters, 75th, Queen's, and remainder of 9th Lancers ; 
the heavy guns and 3nd Fusiliers are only a short 
way behind. Colonel Hope Grant commands. The 
Meerut folks have had another light (on the 31st) 
with the Delhi mutineers, and again beaten them ; 
but this constant exposure is very trying to Europeans. 
I wish we were moving nearer Delhi more rapidly, 
as all now depends on our quickly disposing of this 
mighty sore. I wish from my heart we had Sir 
Henry Lawrence here ; he is the man for the crisis. 
We are all in high spirits ; only eager to get at the 
villains who have committed atrocities which make 
the blood run cold but to think of. I trust the retri- 
bution will be short, sharp, and decisive. 

Another batch of half-starved, half-naked Europeans, 
men, women, and children (a deputy collector and 
his family), were brought into camp to-day, after 
wandering twenty-three days in the jungle. 

B/ABB, yd. — Things are so quiet in the Punjab 
that I begin to hope that, if we do but make haste 
in disposing of Delhi, the campaign may not be so 

o 3 



196 MARCH TO DELHI. 

long, after all. Everything depends on that; we 
dare not, however, calculate on such good fortune 
either to our arms or ourselves. The Head -quarters 
people joined this morning; they seem to stand it 
better than I expected. Congreve complains a good 
deal, but Keith Young and Arthur Becber are well. 
I have not yet seen Sir H. Barnard. I was kept up 
and out half the night, and then out again at day- 
break, so I am too tired andbusy to pay visits. There 
has been no further fight that we know of. Charlie 
Thomason rejoined us this morning ; he has picked 
up a little since his starvation time ended, and does 
not look so like a wild beast as be did. Still good 
news from Agra; there are, however, reports which 
tend to show disturbances in the Allyghur and 
Bolundshur districts. 

Aleepoee, 5th. — You must not be anxious on my 
account : I am in as good a position as possible for a 
subaltern to be, unless, indeed, I had my regiment 
ready for service. I am second only to Becher in 
the Quartermaster-General Department, and the Intel- 
ligence Department is entirely my own. I feel deeply 
for poor Mrs. Hallifax and her large family, and am 
delighted that you are able to aid them. I have tried 
everywhere to get a bearer, but the natives will not 
serve us now, and I could get no one even on double 
pay. Only two days ago I succeeded in getting a 
Bheestie. If we could but get all the seventy-four native 
infantry regiments in one lump we could manage them, 
butthey will never stand after we get our guns to work. 
I rode right up to the Delhi parade-ground this 
morning to reconnoitre, and the few Sowars, whom I 



MARCH TO DELHI. 197 

met, galloped away like mad at the sight of one white 
face. Had I had a hundred Guides with me I would 
have gone up to the very walls. 

Aleepoub, 6th. — All the force is assembled to-day 
save the Meerut portion, and they will be up to-night ; 
the heat is severe, but not unhealthy. The siege 
guns came in this morning, and the and European 
Bengal Fusiliers, and we are all ready to move on. 
About aooo of the rebels have come out of Delhi, 
and put themselves in position to bar our road. Even 
your pride would be satisfied at the cry when I ride 
to the front or start on any little excursion. I think 
I am more than appreciated by the Head-quarter's 
people. I had barely finished the word when I was 
sent for by the General, and had a pretty strong 
proof of the estimation I am held in. He had been 
urged to one particular point of attack ; and when I 
went into the tent, he immediately turned to the 
assembled council, and said, ' I have always trusted 
to Hodson's intelligence, and have the greatest con- 
fidence in his judgment. I will be guided by what 
he can tell me now.' So the croakers, who had 
been groaning, were discomfited. This is of course 
for your own eye and ear alone, but it is pleasant, as 
the General has only known me since he has now 
joined the force.* 

Aleepore, June ^th. — I have little to do with the 
' Jheend Eajah's troops,' further than that I am em- 
powered to demand as many as I want, and whenever 

* I am told that one day about this time, General 
Barnard said at the council table, ' We must have our 
best man to lead that column — Hodson, will you take 
it V—Ed. 



198 DELHI. 

I want them. I have twenty-five men on constant 
duty with me, and to-day have asked for double that 
number for extra duty ; beyond this, I have not, and 
do not wish to have, further to do with them. All 
.Hohilcund is in mutiny. In fact, the district of Agra 
is the only one in the North- West Provinces now under 
our control. What a terrible lesson on the evils of 
delay ! It will be long yet, I fear, ere this business 
is over. Oh for Sir Henry Lawrence ! Yet per- 
sonally I have no reason to complain. 

Camp, Delhi, Jione Wi, 1857. — Here we are, safe 
and sound, after having driven the enemy out of their 
position in the cantonments up to and into the walls 
of Delhi ! I write a line in pencil on the top of a 
drum to say that I am mercifully untouched, and 
none the worse for a very hard morning^s work. Our 
loss has been considerable, the rebels having been 
driven from their guns at the point of the bayonet. 
Poor Colonel Chester killed at the first fire. Alfred 
Light (who won the admiration of all) wounded, but 
not severely. No one else of the staff party killed or 
wounded ; but our general returns will, I fear, tell a 
sad tale. Greville slightly hurt. The enemy^s guns 
captured, and their dispersion and rout very complete. 
God has been very good to me. May his gracious 
protection still be shown. 



CHAPTEE II. 

SIEGE OE DELHI. 

Camp before Delhi, June gth. 
T WE/OTE you a few hurried lines on the field of 
-^ battle yesterdajj to say that we had beaten the 
enemy, and driven them back five miles into Delhi. 
How grateful rest was after such a morning ! The 
Guides came in to-day, and it would have done your 
heart good to see the welcome they gave me — cheer- 
ing and shouting and crowding round me like frantic 
creatures. They seized my bridle, dress, hands, and 
feet, and literally threw themselves down before the 
horse with the tears streaming down their faces. 
Many ofiicers who were present hardly knew what to 
make of it, and thought the creatures were mobbing 
me; and so they were — but for joy, not for mischief,* 
All the staff were witnesses of this, and Colonel 
Becher says their reception of me was quite enough 
to contradict all the reports of my unpopularityf with 
the regiment. There is terrible confusion all along 
the road, and we can only get the daks carried at all 
by bribery stage by stage. 

June loth. — When I hastily closed my letter yes- 
terday, I hoped to be able to write a long one for 



* One of the officers who witnessed this scene told me 
that the exclamation of the men on meeting him was, 
' Burra Serai- wallah,' or Great in battle. — Ed, 

t This had been one of the unfounded charges against 
him two years before. 



200 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

to-day^s dak^ and to have had some hours' quiet to 
myself; but before the post had well started, our 
troops were again under arms, the mutineers having 
thought proper to attack our position : consequently 
I was on horseback the whole day, and thankful to 
get at night a mouthful of food and a little rest. I 
had command of all the troops on our right, the 
gallant Guides among the rest. They followed me 
with a cheer for their old commander, and behaved 
with their usual pluck ; but I grieve deeply to say 
tbat poor Quintin Battye was mortally wounded. He 
behaved most nobly, Daly tells me, leading his men 
like a hero. Poor Khan Singh Rosah, who had come 
down from the Punjab to join me only the same 
morning, was badly shot through the shoulder. In- 
deed, I did not expose myself unnecessarily, for 
having to direct the movements of three or four 
regiments, I could not be in the front as much as I 
wished, God has mercifully preserved me, and I 
humbly pray will continue His gracious care. The 
warmth of the reception again given me by the 
Guides was quite affecting, and has produced a great 
sensation in camp, and had a good effect on our 
native troops, insomuch that they are more willing to 
obey their European officers when they see their own 
countrymen's enthusiasm. Numbers of the men want 
to come and join my new regiment — in fact, the 
largest proportion of the cavalry; but of course I 
cannot take them now, nor until this business is over. 
I am wonderfully well, and only a little anxious about 
the hill stations, though I have full confidence in Lord 
William Hay's management. There is not much sick- 
ness in camp, though many wounded, and there 



ENTHUSIASM OP GUIDES. 201 

will be many more^ I fear^ before we get into 
Delhi. We have been fortunate in the weather 
hitherto. 

The enemy are at least four or five times our 
strength, and their numbers tell when we come near 
them, despite their want of discipline. They are 
splendid artillerymen, however, and actually beat ours 
in accuracy of fii'e. 

Light works on magnificently, despite a severe and 
painful wound in the head. I was very nearly coming 
to grief once this morning, for the sabre I thought 
such a good one went the first blow, and the blade 
flew out of the handle the second, the handle itself 
breaking in two. I had to borrow a sword from a 
horse artilleryman for the remainder of the day. 

The Jheend men w^ith me fought like excellent 
soldiers. The good General came up when it was 
over, and shook hands with me, and then with the 
men nearest. Their E,ajah has given the native ofiicer 
a pair of gold bangles, and doubled his pay. This is 
the way to encourage soldiers, European as well as 
native : reward them, if but with thanks, on the spot. 

Colonel Thomas Seaton is at Rohtuck, in command 
of the 6oth Native Infantry. How much longer they 
will refrain from mutiny one cannot say; certainly 
not long ; though if any man can keep them steady, 
Seaton will. I hear some 300 or 400 men are ready 
for me ; a few have already arrived with Khan Singh. . 
Meantime my position is Assistant Quartermaster- 
General on the Commander-in-Chiefs personal staff". 
I am responsible for the Intelligence Department, and 
in the field, or when anything is going on, for direct- 
ing the movements of the troops in action, under the 



202 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

immediate orders of the General : I have no other 
master^ and he listens to my suggestions most readily. 
Charlie Thomason is here, working away as an en- 
gineer. Macdowell is well and merry, and much 
gratified at my having asked for him. 

June x\th, — We were roused up three times during 
the night, and I have been deep in business with the 
General all the morning. I was also interrupted by 
the mournful task of carrying poor Battye to his 
grave ; the brave boy died last night, with a smile on 
his lip, and a Latin quotation on his tongue, " Dulce 
et decorum est pro patria mori." Poor fellow ! he 
had quite won my heart by his courage and amiable 
qualities, and it is very, very sad, his early death. It 
was a noble one, however, and worthy of a soldier. We 
have just been excited in camp by the hasty arrival of 
Colonel Seaton and the officers of the late 6oth Native 
Infantry, which mutinied yesterday, and, spite of all 
Seaton could do, they fired on their officers, who, how- 
ever, all escaped, and came into camp safe, after a ride 
of fifty miles. Seaton is with me, looking terribly 
worn and harassed, but he says quite well in health, 
though disgusted enough. Dr. Coghlan (75th Regi- 
ment) died of cholera last night, but, thank God, there 
are no other cases in camp. I am much vexed at 
the LaJwre Chronicle ' butter,^ and wish people would 
leave me alone in the newspapers. The best ' butter ' 
I get is the deference and respect I meet with from 
all whose respect I care for, and the afiectionate en- 
thusiasm of the Guides, which increases instead of 
lessening. 

June Yiith. — We were turned out early this morn- 
ing by an attack on our outposts and position generally 



PROJECT OF ATTACK. 203 

by the rebel army. A sharp fight ensued, which lasted 
some four hours. The enemy came on very boldly, 
and had got close to us, under cover of the trees and 
gardens, before they were seen; however, the troops 
turned out sharp, and drove them back quickly 
from our immediate vicinity ; they were then followed 
up, and got most heartily thrashed. They have never 
yet been so punished as to-day. I estimate their loss 
in killed alone at 400, while our loss was compara- 
tively trifling. The Guides behaved admirably, so did 
the Fusiliers, as usual. Jacobus wing was the admira- 
tion of all; one officer (Captain Knox, 75th) was 
kiUed and one or two wounded, I do not know how 
many European soldiers ; but on the whole the afiair 
was a very creditable one. I am safe and sound still, 
and again have to thank the Almighty for my preser- 
vation. 

Yesterday I was ordered by the General to assist 
Greathed and one or two more engineers in forming 
a project of attack, and how we would do to take 
Delhi. We drew up our scheme and gave it to the 
General, who highly approved, and will, I trust, carry 
it out ; but how times must be changed, when four 
subalterns are called upon to suggest a means of carry- 
ing out so vitally important an enterprise as this, one 
on which the safety of the Empire depends ! Wilber- 
force Greathed is next senior-engineer to Laughton. 
Chesney is Major of the Engineer Brigade, and 
Maunsell commands the Sappers, so they had official 
claims to be consulted. 

I was added, because the General complimentarily 
told me he had the utmost value for my opinion, and 
though I am known to counsel vigorous measures, it 



204 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

is equally well known I do not urge otliers to do what 
I would not be the first to do myself. It is a much 
more serious business than was at first anticipated. 
Delhi is a very strong place^ and the vast resources 
which the possession of our arsenal has given the 
mutineers has made the matter a difiicult one to deal 
with, except by the boldest measures; the city should 
be carried by a coup-de-main, and that at once, or we 
may be many weeks before Delhi, instead of within 
it. All is safe at Agra, and the 3rd Europeans are 
quietly under cover. A large party of us have just 
been listening to a letter from Lord W. Hay, in 
which he speaks in the highest terms of the conduct 
of some of the ladies at Simla, and says that the 
sense and courage exhibited by one or two of them 
has given a severe lesson to those who ought to 
know better than to require it from the weaker sex. 

Jime j'^th. — We were to have taken Delhi by as- 
sault last night, but a ' mistake of orders ' (?) as to 
the right time of bringing the troops to the ren- 
dezvous prevented its execution. I am much annoyed 
and disappointed at our plan not having been carried 
out, because I am confident it would have been suc- 
cessful. The rebels were cowed, and perfectly igno- 
rant of any intention of so bold a stroke on our part 
as an assault ; the surprise would have done every- 
thing. I am very vexed, though the General is most 
kind and considerate in trying to soothe my disap- 
pointment — too kind, indeed, or he would not so readily 
have pardoned those whose fault it is that we are 
still outside Delhi. 

June i\tli. — There was another smart engagement 
last night, the 60th Native Infantry having thought 



ANXIETY ABOUT SIMLA. 205 

fit to signalize their arrival at Delhi, by an attack 
upon our position ; they suffered for it, as usual^ but 
also as usual, we lost several good men whom, God 
knows, we cau ill spare. Mr. Kennedy was wounded, 
and a Subadar and some men of the Guides killed. 
I was not very much under fire, though I had to run 
the gauntlet now and then of a rain of shot and 
shells with which the rebels belaboured us. Our 
Artillery officers themselves say that they are out- 
matched by these rascals in accuracy and rapidity of 
fire j and as they have unlimited supply of guns and 
ammunition from our own greatest arsenal, thej are 
quite beyond us in many respects. I am just returned 
from a long ride to look after a party of plunderers 
from the city, who had gone round our flank ; I dis- 
posed of a few. 

June \^th. — I have had a night and day of great 
anxiety, owing to fresh rumours of an outbreak at 
Simla. I have much confidence in Lord W. Hay's 
judgment and management of the natives, but this 
would not be sufficient were the station once attacked. 
The dak, however, has arrived, and quieted our appre- 
hensions. There was a sharp fight again this morning, 
which lasted some hours ; our loss was not great, but 
every man is a loss. Our project for the assault is 
still approved of, and entertained, but put off from 
day to day, till it will be too late. It is now noon, and 
I have been out since daybreak, and must get break- 
fast. 

June \6tli. — Everybody here is infinitely disgusted 
at learning the truth about the report of a riot at Simla, 
and the opinion is universal that ought to be re- 
moved. Neville Chamberlain is Adjutant-General of 



206 SIEGE OE DELHI. 

the army, and Pat Grant Commander-in-Cliief. I do 
not think either of them will approve oi any ' soldier ' 
showing his prowess in fighting' helpless women and 
children, or of one whose only courage is exhibited on 
a peaceful parade^ or when an unfortunate subaltern 
is to be bullied. The weather is intense to-day, 
and I am uncomfortable from having caught a heavy 
cold, but it will soon go off, I daresay. I men- 
tioned that four of us had been ordered to prepare a 
project of attack, and that we had suggested and 
arranged a bold but perfectly feasible coicp -de-main : 
it was approved and ordered, but in consequence of 

— ■■ ^s not bringing up his troops, was forced to be 

abandoned: it has again been ordered, countermanded, 
and finally abandoned. A council of war sat yester- 
day, and resolved to wait for reinforcements ! ! our 
scheme, however, is on record, and our names 
attached. General Barnard told me yesterday he 
wished I was a captain, for he would pledge himself 
to get me a majority for what I had already done ; 
he thought he ' might safely promise that at least/ 
But, alas ! I am not a captain. 

June I'^th. — I was not able to write yesterday, for 
the cold, I mentioned as having caught in common 
with many others in camp, turned into a sharp attack 
of bronchitis, or inflammation on the chest, and I was 
really very ill for some hours. To-day I am thankful to 
say I am much better, though very weak ; the inflam-- 
mation has disappeared, and I hope to be on Vi\j horse 
again to-morrow in spite of all the doctor says. Every- 
one is very kind, the General particularly so ; he insists 
on having me in his own tent, as being so much larger 
than my own, and he takes the most fatherly care of 



GENERAL BARNAEd's KINDNESS. 207 

me. I caa see no reason strong enough to induce 
me to consent to any ladies coming to camp ; it is 

true that a Captain , who with his wife escaped 

from Delhi to Umbala, has dragged the unfortunate 
woman back here again, though expecting her con- 
finement_, and with not a shadow of comfort or shelter 

except a tent. Even Mrs. * and all the others 

of her sex have been sent back to Meerut ; they never 
ought to have been allowed to come with us : the 
greatest consolation to us here is the thought that 
those dearest to us are in safety, and free from the 
heat and dangers and annoyances of our life here. 
Poor Brown was badly wounded last night in the 
shoulder. I much fear that Dr. Hay has been 
murdered at Bareilly ; his name is among the missing, 
and scarcely a hope remains. 

Jime igtii. — I am up and dressed, and crawling 
about a little to-day, but much weaker than I fancied, 
and dizzy with quinine, and vexed at being useless 
at such a time. The General nurses me as if I were 
his son. I woke in the night, and found the kind old 
man by my bedside, covering me carefully up from 
the draught. The delay, and absolute want of pro- 
gress here is very disheartening. There have been 
repeated attacks upon us ; all of course with the 
same result (but, for that matter, we are as nearly 
besieged as the rebels themselves are), and we lose 
valuable lives in every encounter, the sum total of 
which would swell the catalogue to the dimensions of 
that of a general engagement. Our plan of carrying 
the city by a coitp-de-main was frustrated the first 



* A Persian lady. 



208 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

niglit by the fears and absolute disobedience of orders 
of , the man who first lost Delhi^ and has now by- 
folly prevented its being recaptured. The General 
has twice since wished and even ordered it^ but has 
always been thwarted by some one or other; latterly 
by that old woman , who has come here for no- 
thing apparently but as an obstacle; ■ is also a cry- 
ing evil to us. The General knows this, and wants to 
get rid of him, but has not the nerve to supersede 
him ; the whole state of affairs here is bad to a 
degree ; it is true we always thrash the fellows when 
we can get at them, for they are contemptible as an 
enemy in the open, being formidable in numbers only ; 
but the immense resources placed in their hands by 
the possession of our magazine and arsenal inside a 
walled and fortified town, make it very diflacult for 
an army, unless provided witb a proper siege equip- 
ment and engineer park, to drive them out in orthodox 
fashion : we have certainly plenty of guns, but we 
have not men to work them ; and of the latter, thanks 

to , we have absolutely nothing, so we do nothing 

but fire away long shots at the distance of a mile, 
and repel the enemy's attacks ; instead of which we 
ought to have had our batteries close up to the walls, 
and been through them, days ago. It was from the 
conviction that we had no regular means of reducing 
the place by the fire of our artillery, and at the dis- 
tance we now are from the walls, and that it was 
vain to expect our commandant of artillery to 
attempt any bolder stroke than ordinary with the 
few guns for which he had hands, which induced me to 
press the capture of the place by assault, blowing 
open the gates with powder bags, and rushing in 



COMMAND OF GUIDES. 209 

with the bayonet. All was ai'ranged, and under 
Providence I venture to believe success was cer- 
tain, but as I say, all was frustrated by terror and 
disobedience. I fear now nothing can be done for 
many days, and until other troops arrive; mean- 
while the evil is spreading, and disaffection, to use a 
mild term, increasing". I fear there is no room to 
doubt that Dr. Hay is dead ; he was actually hung, 
with other civilians, in the marketplace at Bareilly, 
after going through a mock form of trial. All the 
Europeans at Shahjehanpoor have, we hear, been 
murdered while they were in church, at the same 
moment as nearly as possible that the Bareilly tragedy 
was going on. 

June lotJi. — I am much better to-day, but still 
very weak, yet work I must. There was a sharp 
fight again last evening. The enemy came down 
and attacked our rear, and a sharp conflict ensued 
between some 2000 Sepoys with six guns,. and 300 
Europeans with one gun. The result was as usual, 
but two events occurred which were important for 
me. Colonel Becher was shot through the right 
arm, and Captain Daly badly hit through the 
shoulder. 

The consequence is, that I have in effect to see to the 
whole work of the Quartermaster-General of the army ; 
and in addition, the General has begged me as a 
personal favour to take command of the Guides until 
Daly has recovered. I at first refused, but the Gene- 
ral was most urgent, putting it on the ground that 
the service was at stake, and none was so fit, &c. &c. 
I do feel that we are bound to do our best just now 
to put things on a proper footing, and after consult- 

p 



210 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

ing Seaton and Norman^ I accepted the command. 

How will gnash his teeth to see me leading my 

dear old Guides again in the field. If I can but keep 
it till Delhi is taken I shall be satisfied, for I think 
I shall be able to do something towards so favourable 
a result. Shebbeare was appointed second in com- 
mand at my request. He is an excellent soldier. 
General Barnard* has written most strongly in my 
favour, and has voluntarily pledged himself to get me 
my majority as soon as ever I am a captain. I con- 
fess I feel a little proud at being earnestly requested 
to take again the command of which the machina- 
tions of my enemies had deprived me. Our loss 
altogether last night was not more than 50 killed 
and wounded ; we took two guns — enemy^s loss about 
500. 

June list. — I have been on horseback to-day for 



* From Majok-General Sir H. Barnard, Commanding 

Field Force, to the Adjutant-General of the Army. 

*Camp, Delhi, June 16th, 1857. 

' Sir, — While enclosing for the information of the 
' Commander-in-Chief the reports of the late attack 
' made by the enemy on the force under my command, I 
' would wish to bring to his notice the assistance I have 
' received in every way from the services of Lieut. W. S, 
' Hodson, 1st Bengal European Fusiliers. 

' Since the arrival of his regiment at TJmbala, up to 
' the present date, his untiring energy and perpetual 
' anxiety to assist me in any way in which his services 
' might be found useful, have distinguished him through- 

* out, and are now my reasons for bringing this officer 
' thus specially to the notice of the Commander-in- 
' Chief 

(Signed) *H. M, Barnard, 

' Major-GeneraV 



COMMAND OF GUIDES. 211 

the first time since this attack of illness, so I may 
lie considered finally recovered, only I still feel con- 
siderable weakness. It is very annoying not to be 
quite up to the mark in these stirring times, especially 
when so much work has fallen to my lot. I am 
fortunate, however, in not being, like many of our poor 
fellows, laid up with wounds and serious ailments. 
God has been very good to me, and in nothing 
more so than in preserving what is most precious 
to me from the horrible danger and suffering of 
so many of our poor countrywomen and children. 
How thankful I am now that Reginald exchanged 
into an European corps. 1 never see any of these 
unhappy refugees, as we call the poor ofiicers whose 
regiments have mutinied, wandering about the camp, 
without uttering a mental thanksgiving that he is 
safe from that at least. I feel more strongly every 
hour that I should not have been justified in refusing 
the command of the Gruides under present circum- 
stances. We are, in point of fact, reduced to merely 
holding our own ground till we get more men. The 
drain on our resources has been enormous, while those 
of the enemy have proved so much greater, both in 
men, ammunition, and strength of position, than we 
expected, and they have fought us so much more per- 
severingly than was deemed possible, that it has 
become imperatively necessary to be stronger before 
striking the final below. The plan for carrying the 
city* by assault, which I feel convinced would then 



* Extract of a Private Letter from Camp to 
Lord W. Hay. 
* Hodson volunteered to lead the assault on the night 
of the nth, but the plan unfortunately was not adopted : 

P % 



213 SIEGE or DELHI. 

have been successful^ has now heeome impracticable. 
The enemy are stronger, we are weaker ; besides that, 
they would be prepared for any cowp-de-main now. 
General Johnstone is to be here by the 33rd, we hope 
with considerable reinforcements, and more will follow. 
I trust that a few days then will end this business, as 
far as Delhi is concerned, and so enable a part at 
least of the force to move on towards Allygurh, and 
re-open the roads and daks, and restore order for the 
time ; but when the end will be who can say ? 

The rising in Rohilcund will, I feai', assume 
formidable proportions and give us much trouble, as 
I think we shall scarcely be able to do anything 
there before the cold weather. There is in fact every 
prospect of a long and tedious campaign. May God's 
wisdom direct and His mercy defend us. 

June iind. — The hottest day we have had yet ; 
but while I know that the hill stations are quiet, I 
can bear anything with equanimity. The rumours 
down here, of all that has been doing and feared at 
Simla, have been enough to unnerve any one who does 
not know the truth. Lord W. Hay's judgment and 
energy deserve every praise. Personally, I cannot 
but feel gratified at the marked pleasure all hands, 
high and low, have shown at my renewed command 



' a small building in front of the gate, which he had 
' fixed on as the rendezvous, is called " Hodson's Mosque." 
' It wotild probably have been his tomb, for few of the 
' devoted band would have escaped, though the city would 
' have been ours.' 

A private letter from Camp of the loth June, says, 
' Hodson, of the ist Fusiliers, and old Showers, are 
' admitted to be the best officers in the field.' 



ENGLISH PLUCK. 313 

of the Guides. All congratulate me as if tliey were 
personally interested ; and as to tlie men themselves^ 
their vociferous^ and I really believe honesty delight 
is quite overpowering. The wounded generally are 
doing well^ poor fellows^ considering the heat^ dirt, 
and want of any bed but the dry ground. Their 
pluck is wonderful, and it is not in the field alone that 
you see what an English soldier is made of. One 
poor fellow who was smoking his pipe and laughing 
with the comrade by his side, was asked, what was 
the matter with him, and he answered in a lively 
voice, ' Oh, not much, sir, only a little knock on the 
back; I shall be up and at the rascals again in a day 
or two.' He had been shot in the spine, and all his 
lower limbs were paralysed. He died next day. 
Colonel Wei ohm an* is about again ; too soon, I fear, 
but there is no keeping the brave old man quiet. 
Poor Peter Brown* is very badly wounded, but he is 
cheerful, and bears up bravely. Jacob* has ' come out' 
wonderfully. He is cool, active, and bold, keeps 
his wits about him under fire, and does altogether well. 
We are fortunate in having him with the force. 
Good field-officers are very scarce indeed ; I do not 
wonder at people at a distance bewailing the delay in 
the taking of Delhi. No one not on the spot can 
appreciate the difficulties in the way, or the painful 
truth, that those difficulties increase upon us. The 
very large reinforcements which the enemy are 
receiving (the whole Bareilly and Rohilcund force, 
some 5000 men, are on their way to join) more than 
counterbalance the aid which can reach us, so that 



1st European Bengal Fusiliers. 



214 SIEGE or DELHI. 

when the last party arrives, the odds will still be 
immensely against us. It would not so much signify 
if we could but get them into the open field, but for 
every gun we can bring to bear upon them they can 
bring four heavier ones against us. We drive them 
before us like chaff in the field, but they can and do 
attack us in two or three quarters at once, and our 
unfortunate soldiers are worked ofi" their legs. I do 
not say this to make matters look gloomy, for I am as 
confident as ever of the result ; but we may be a long 
while yet, and a weary while too, before that result is 
arrived at. Baird Smith will be here as Chief Engi- 
neer in a day or two, and if we can manage to get 
some batteries made suddenly, we may carry the city 
shortly; but there are great obstacles. I regret more 
than ever that the assault was not made on the night 
of the Tith, when they were unprepared for us, and so 
much fewer in numbers. Now they increase daily, 
and the city is so overflowing, that the rascals are 
encamped outside the gates under cover of their for- 
midable batteries, and in the glacis ; so much for 
giving our arsenal into native keeping. All is well 
at Agra ; beyond that, we know nothing. 

Jime lyd. — The rebels came out again this morn- 
ing in considerable force, with the avowed intention 
of attacking us on all sides. They have been frus- 
trated, however, save on one point, and firing is still 
going on. They do little more than annoy us, and 
the only great evil they cause, is the keeping our men out 
forhours in this scorching heat. The worstof all is, that 
we can do but little harm to them, as they are well 
under cover. The rascals most forward to-day are the 
Jullundur troops, who ought never to have been 



SUBJECT FOR SKETCH. 215 

allowed to join the king of the rebels here at Delhi ; 
whj they were not pursued and cut up is at present a 
mystery, but indignation is strong in camp against 
those who suffered their escape. 

General Johnstone has met with a serious accident 
at Paneeputj I hear ; most unfortunate indeed. 

Jime I'i^rd. — An amusing story is told a propos of 
the fight this morning. A rascally Paudy, thinking 
all was over, put his head out of the window of one of 
the houses, in the shade of which a few Europeans 
and Goorkhas were resting. One of the latter jumped 
up, laid hold of the rebel by his hair, and with one 
chop of his 'kookrie' took off his head. Atkinson 
should make a sketch of this for the Illustrated 
News. Sarel, of the 9th Lancers, came in this morn- 
ing, in an incredibly short space of time, from his 
shooting expedition in the interior, ten days' journey 
beyond Simla. He reports all quiet there, thank 
God. I am sadly weak, I find, and have been obliged 
to change my work from the saddle to the pen more 
than once to-day. This want of physical strength 
depresses me. It is a burden to me to stand or walk, 
and the excessive heat makes it difficult for me to 
recover from that sharp attack of illness. The doctors 
urge me to go away for a little to get strength — as 
if I could leave just now, or as if I would if I 
could. 

June i\th. — I have been in the saddle nearly all 
day, though obliged occasionally to rest a bit when I 
could find shelter. One of my halts was by the side 
of Alfred Light, who has behaved magnificently under 
trial and difficulty. It does me good to see the ^ Light 
of the ball-room' working away at his guns, begrimed 



216 SIEGE or DELHI. 

with dust aud heat_, ever cheery and cool^ though dead 
beat from fatigue and exposure. He is one of a 
thousand,, and a host in himself. 

The enemy turned us out very early^ aud the firing 
continued without intermission till dark^ and such a 
day; liquid fire was no name for the fervent heat. 
Colonel Welchman got an ugly wound in the arm^ 
and Dennis was knocked down by the sun^ and 
numbers of the men; but nothing less than a knock- 
down blow from sun, sword, or bullet, stops a British 
soldier. How well they fought to-day ; and to do 
them justice, so did my old Guides and my new Sikhs, 
while the little Goorkhas vied with any in endurance 
and courage ; but the mismanagement of matters is 
perfectly sickening. Nothing the rebels can do 
will equal the evils arising from incapacity and inde- 
cision. 

Fortunately Neville Chamberlain has arrived, and 
he ought to be worth a thousand men to us. I can 
but remember when Lord Dalhousie gave me the 
command of the Guides, how anxious he was for 
me to exchange it with him for the Military Secre- 
taryship at Lahore. Spite of all, I can never regret 
not having yielded, for I feel that these two years of 
persecution and suflfering have been of service to me. 
I can truly say, it is good for me to have been afflicted, 
and I am conscious of being more fitted either for 
the Victoria Cross or the soldier's grave ! I do not 
think either that Chamberlain bears me any ill will, 
rather the contrary ; but did he do so, I would lose 
anything personally, for the sake of having his in- 
fluence predominant at head-quarters. I am neither 
down-hearted nor desponding when I say that with 



NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN. 217 

our present chiefs I see no chance of taking Delhi. It 
might have been done many days ago (certes, it was 
not for want of a distinct plan being before them or 
a willing leader)^ but they have not the nerve nor the 
heart for a bold stroke requiring the smallest as- 
sumption of responsibility. Horses are very scarce 
here^ and I have the greatest difficulty in getting my 
own men mounted. Mr. Montgomery is helping me 
wonderfully with men, and I receive offers for service 
daily, but in these mutinous times it is necessary to 
be cautious. A telegraph from Agra says, ' Heavy 
firing at Cawnpore ; result not known.^ 

June 2^th. — There is little doing to-day, save a 
vain fire of long shots, and I fear nothing effective 
will be done till the 8th and 6ist arrive. I hope 
much from Chamberlain. The General, though one 
of the kindest and best of men, has neither health 
nor nerve enough for so responsible, and really very 
difficult, a position as that he is now in. Our loss in 
officers and men bears a sadly large proportion to our 
successes. In the ist Fusiliers it is, too, melancholy : 
Colonel Welchman with a very bad hit in the arm, 
in addition to his sickness when he came to Delhi 
from Dugshai; .Greville down with fever; Wriford 
with dysentery; Dennis with sun-stroke; Brown 
with wounds. Jacob and the ' boys ' have all the 
w^ork to themselves, and well indeed do the boys 
behave, with a courage and coolness that would not 
disgrace veterans. Little Tommy Butler, Owen, 
Warner, all behave like heroes, albeit with sadly 
diminishing numbers to lead. I am vexed at the- 
mistakes or falsehoods of the newspaper reports. So 
far from having' been wounded in the fight of the 



218 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

I9tli, I was not even present^ but ill in bed. When 
Colonel Becher came into camp wounded, I got up 
and struggled into the saddle, and tried to get far 
enough to send up fresh troops ; but I had not got 
ten yards before I fell from my horse, and was all but 
carried back to my tent again. 

I am more and more convinced that I was right 
not to persist in my refusal to take again the com- 
mand of the Guides. It was so pressed on me, and 
surely the best eradication of the reproach of removal^ 
was the being asked to re -assume it in times of 
difficulty and danger like these. 

That this is the general view of the case is shown 
by the warm and hearty congratulations I meet with 
on all sides. There is but one rule of action for a soldier 
in the field, as for a man at all times, to do that 
which is best for the public good ; to make that your 
sole aim, resting assured that the result will in the 
end be best for individual interest also. I am quite 
indifferent not to see my name appear in newspaper 
paragraphs and despatches; only content if I can 
perform my duty truly and honestly, and too thankful 
to the Almighty if I am daily spared for future 
labours or future repose. 

The story prevalent in the hills, that 7000 of the 
enemy are pitched in the open plain, is a mere 
magnification of the simple fact, that a surplus 
portion of the rebels have encamped under cover 
of their guns, and close up under the wall of 
the city, and remain there all night, but this is on 
the side opposite us. "We are not very well off 
quant a la acisine. I never had so much trouble in 
getting anything fit to eat, except when I dine with 



RETURN TO GUIDES. 219 

the General. Colonel Seaton^ lives in my tent, 
and is a great companion ; his joyous disposition is a 
perpetual rebuke to the croakers. Don't Believe 
what is said about our batteries doing no harm. The 
same - was said of Muttra, yet when we entered 
scarcely a square yard was uuploughed by our shot. 
One of the native officers of the Guides (you know 
how ingenious they are at disguise) got into the 
city as a spy, and remained there four days. He 
reports great dissension and quarrelling among them- 
selves. Robbery and fighting, and everything that is 
bad, between the newly arrived rebels and the 
city people. This account my own native news 
letters confirm. The 9th Native Infantry had already 
decamped, and thousands would follow if they dared. 
This last I doubt ; the spirit of bravado, if not of 
bravery, is as yet too strong. The rascals in the 
last engagement came out in their red coats and 
medals ! 

June %6t}i. — I have been so hard at work the whole 
day, that I can only find time to say the enemy has 
made no sortie to-day, but Pandy amuses himself 
with firing long shots incessantly ; all well, however. 

%'ltJb. — We were turned out before I had hardly 
turned in, by another attack of the rebels. This 
time a faint one, which has been already repulsed 
with trifling loss on our side. For a short time, how- 
ever, the cannonade was very heavy, and I have seldom 
been under a hotter fire than for about three quarters 
of an hour at our most advanced battery, covered 
every moment with showers or rather clouds of dust, 



* Sir Thomas Seaton, K.C.B. 



220 SIEGE OE DELHI. 

stones^ and splinters ; but we kept closej and no one 
was hurt. There has been an outcry throughout 

camp at 's having fled from Bhagput, the 

bridge which caused me so much hard riding and 
hard work to get^ some time ago. A report came 
that a portion di the mutineers were moving in that 
direction^ and he fairly bolted^ leaving boats, bridge 
and all ! Yet he had with him all the E-ajah of 
of Jheend^s men, horse, foot, and guns, and never 
even saw the twinkle of a musket. In fact, it is not 
at all sure that an enemy was ever near him. By 
this conduct he has not only cut us off from all com- 
munication with Meerut, but actually left the boats 
to be used or destroyed by the enemy. Our rein- 
forcements are in sight, at least the camp of the 8 th, 
and I do trust no further delay will take place in our 
getting possession of Delhi. The insurgents are 
disheartened, and I have no doubt but that the 
moment we get possession of a single gate the 
greater portion of them will run out through the 
opposite ones. The only formidable part of the 
enemy is their artillery, which is amazingly well- 
served, and in prodigious abundance, as my experience 
this morning abundantly proved. Harris, of the 2nd 
European Bengal Fusiliers, was wounded this morning, 
but not dangerously. All quiet at Agra, we believe, 
but no particulars known. 

Jime 2,8t/i.—^l have just got orders to proceed to 
Bh^gput some twenty-five miles off on the Jumna, and 
see what the real state of affairs is, and try to save 
the boats, so I have only time to say I am much 
better and stronger, which is a great comfort, for I 
could not have ridden the distance a few days ago. 



RIDE TO BHAGPUT. 221 

The rains have begun^ and the air is colder and more 
refreshing, though not exactly what one could wish. 
Certainly the hot season in India is not the pleasantest 
time in the year for campaigning, and this the rascally 
mutineers were fully aware of before they begun. 
Colonel Greathed and the 8th came in this mornine", 
and the 6ist will be here to-morrow. 

June ii)t]i. — I was thirteen hours and a half in 
the saddle without intermission yesterday, and got 
back to camp after midnight, very tired, but none the 
worse ; fortunately, I had a cloudy day and a tolerably 
cool breeze for my work. I recovered the boats and 

found all quiet, in spite of -'s disgraceful flight. 

He had not even the sense or courage to draw the 
boats over to our side of the river, consequently three 
were burnt and the whole place plundered. So much 
for acting on native reports, without at least at- 
tempting to ascertain their accuracy. The conse- 
quences are bad and discreditable to a degree. 

I doubt whether General Barnard used the exact 
expression reported regarding Tombs, but he did say, 
and well he might, that he was as gallant and good 
a soldier as any in camp, and so indeed he is. 

The fight of the 33rd was a much more severe one 
than was reported. It was not over till dark, and 
our loss was the heaviest we have yet had to deplore 
since we got here on the 8th. 

Reports must not be depended on. The fact was. 
Major Olpherts arrived early in the morning. I my- 
self galloped out to meet him, and as he passed, when 
the fight had just commenced, he fired once at the 
enemy, and then came into camp to rest his men after 
their long march. We were out the whole day until 



222 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

dark, and half dead with fatigue. Colonel Welchman 
suffers severely from his wound, but bears it bravely, 
as does Peter Brown. 

Everything quiet to-day, no firing on either side. 
I do hope this part of the business will soon be over, 
and that they will only wait for the 5ist and Coke's 
regiment, both of which will be here to-morrow or 
next day. Colonel Seaton himself recommended the 
disarming of his old Corps, the 35th Native Infantry. 
To-day we hear it has been done. All was safe at 
Cawnpore and Lucknow up to our last news. 

July ind. — I have been quite unable to write since 
the 29th, on the night of which, I was ordered off 
again to Bhagput, to try to bring the boats down to 
camp, either to make a bridge here or a ' stop ' for the 
enemy. The order was given with the complimen- 
tary addenda from the General, ' because I can trust 
your judgment quite as much as your energy.' I ex- 
pected to be back in good time on the 30th, but the 
winds and waves were against me, and I could not 
get my fleet of boats down the river. 

Shebbeare was with me, and we worked like a couple 
of ' navvies, ' passing the two days and one night on 
the banks of the river, without shelter, and almost with- 
out food, for we had nothing but a couple of 'chupatties* 
each, and a small tin of soup and a little tea, which I 
fortunately took with me. Poor Shebbeare would soon 
lose the graceful rotund of his figure if he were long 
on such short commons, but I do not think any 
amount of starvation could reduce my horizontal 
dimensions. 

All's weU that ends well, however, and I succeeded 
in getting every boat safe into camp last night. I 



PROGRESS or REGIMENT. 228- 

missed the skirmish of the 30th by being atBhagput. 
The 6ist have arrived, rich in twenty officers. We 
are getting more supplies now, and I have set my- 
self up with plates and dishes for the small charge 
of one rupee. Colonel Seaton^s traps and servants 
will be here to-day, and then we shall be comfortable, 
for hitherto a very limited allowance for one has been 
but small accommodation for two. For my new regi- 
ment two complete troops are on their way from Lahore 
and will be here on the 8th, and another troop from 
Jugraon should be here in a week. Two more troops 
are preparing at Lahore. 

Montgomery takes the most kind interest in my 
new Corps, and I am rejoiced and comforted to find 
that he cordially approves of my having accepted the 
Guides. I have as much confidence in his judgment 

as in his kindness. has been shelved, and 

allowed to get 'sick ' to save him from supercession. 
I do not like euphuisms. In these days men and 
things should be called by their right names, that 
we might know how far either should be trusted. 

Sir E. Campbell arrived here to-day by mail-cart, 
and will be a valuable addition to the 60th, or he will 
belie his descent from the Bourbons and Fitzgeralds. 
He is a man you can always trust, which is saying 
something in these hard times. 

Jzily ^rd. — Whatever I may have sacrificed of 
pride and personal feeling to a sense of duty, I shall 
be fully rev/arded by entering Delhi at the head of 
the Guides. Here at least there is but one opinion 
on the subject. My poor gallant Guides ! they 
have suffered severely for their fidelity to our cause, 
above a fourth of the whole having been killed or 



224 SIEGE OP DELHI. 

wounded, incliidrng- some of our best men. Koor 
Singh, the little Goorkha Subadar who won the 
.Order of Merit in that stiff affair at Boree in '53, is 
gone, and others whom we could ill afford to lose, 
now that so much depends on the fidelity of the 
native officers — the Guides more than all. Surely, 
then, I am right, knowing and feeling that my 
influence with them is so great, to sink every personal 
consideration before the one great end of public 
safety, which implies that of ourselves and those 
dear us. If we fail here at Delhi, not a soul in the 
Punjab or Upper Provinces would be safe for a 
day. 

July ^th. — It was impossible for me to write by 
yesterday's dak, for the rebels got into our rear during 
the night of the 3rd, and attacked Alipoor, the first 
stage from hence on the Kurnal road. I was out 
reconnoitring, and saw them moving out some five 
miles on our right. I reported their position at 
7 P.M. on the 3rd, but not until 3 a.m. of the 4th 
were any measures taken, by which time of course 
they had attained their end, and were in full march 
back to Delhi. At daybreak yesterday I pointed out 
their exact whereabouts to Coke (who commanded 
the party sent to attack them), and I did not get 
back to camp till 8 p.m. ; a hard day's work, especially 
as I had no breakfast, nor indeed food of any kind, 
and hunger makes the heat tell. 

We beat 5000 of the rebels in the morning, and 
were twice attacked by upwards of 3000 in the 
com'se of the day. I took the Guides in pursuit (as 
soon as our guns had driven the enemy from their 
position), and drove them into a village. Unfor- 



CLOSE WORK. ^25 

tunately we did not do half as well as we ought, for 
though Coke is a good commandant of a regiment, 
and a good man for the frontiers, he is no general, 
and did not manage well, or we should have cut up 
numbers of the enemy and taken their guns. 

Our loss was about thirty or forty Europeans, 
and three of my native officers temporarily disabled. 
Both men and horses were terribly knocked up towards 
the end of the day, and could hardly crawl back to 
camp, and no wonder. I was mercifully preserved, 
though I am sorry to say my gallant ' Feroza^ was 
badly wounded twice with sabre cuts, and part of his 
bridle cut through, and a piece of my glove shaved 
off, so it was rather close work. My men, who were 
most engaged of all, escaped with the loss of one 
killed and six wounded, and six horses put liors de 
comhat. I am dissatisfied with the day's work, inas- 
much as more might have been done, and what was 
done is only satisfactory as a proof of the ease with 
whieh Anglo-Saxons can thrash Asiatics at any odds. 
Yesterday they were at least from ten to fifteen to 
one against us. To-day General Barnard has been 
attacked with cholera, I grieve to say; and Colonel 
Welchman is very ill indeed. The doctors dread 
erysipelas, which at his age would be serious ; beyond 
this, the wounded are generally doing well. 

Jult/ 6th. — Poor General Barnard died last night, 
and was buried this morning. He sank rapidly, for 
anxiety, worry, over-exertion and heat had prepared 
his system, and it was impossible for him to bear up 
against the virulence of cholera. Personally, I am 
much grieved, for no kinder or more considerate or 
more gentlemanly man ever lived. I am so sorry 

Q 



226 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

for his son^ a fine brave fellow^ whose attention to his 
father won the love of us all. It was quite beautiful 
to see them together. 

I have just seen a copy of a very strong minute 
anent the Bhagput affair^ which shows the General 
was not disposed to pass it over lightlj'-. The 
civil authorities, however, are determined to sup- 
port , though in camp there is but one opinion 

of his conduct. The present state of things is 
terrible, enough to fret one to death — no head, no 
brains, no decision. Neville Chamberlain, though of 
decided excellence as a man of action, is, I begin to 
fear, but a poor man of business. Prompt decision in 
council is what we want : there is no lack of vigorous 
action. There are plenty to obey ; but we want some 
one to command. We have seen nothino- of the 
enemy outside the walls since the 4th. I am worked 
off my legs all the same, and the day is not half long 
enough for what I have to do. To make matters 
worse, too, poor Macdowell is down with fever ; a 
sad loss just now to ' Hodson's Horse,' as they call 
my growing corps. I am sadly off for clothes, as we 
of course are only too glad to help the poor refugees 
who come into camp with none. 

Ji/J}/ StA. — We left camp at 3 a.m. with a consider- 
able force, and marched to a bridge some ten miles off, 
which we blew up to prevent the enemy annoying us, 
and then marched back again. I tried hard to induce 
Chamberlain, who commanded, to march back by 
another road, which I had reconnoitred, and which 
would have brought us close along the rear and flank 
of the enemy, but he would not do so, though ad- 
mitting that I was right. We have had eleven hours 



RAINS. 227 

in the saddle and in the sun^ merely for this trifling- 
gain. My face is like ' General Gascoignie's/ and my 
hands perfectly skinless. I must get some dogskin 
gloves, for it is as much as I can do to hold a sword, 
much less a pen. There has been no fighting since 
the 4th, and my news-writers from the city speak of 
much disheartenment, and symptoms of a break up ; 
but I doubt this latter being more than a report, 
while the enemy are so well provided both with 
* matSrieV and 'personnel' 

I have just returned from a long chase after a party 
of the enemy^s horse, safe and unhurt, but drenched to 
the skin by a cataract of rain. There has been some 
hard fighting to-day. The 8th Irregulars from Bareilly 
came into our camp, thanks to the defection of a 
party of the 9 th Irregular Cavalry who were on 
picket duty. The rascals consequently were enabled 
to get into our very lines, and cut down one ofiicer at 
his guns. There was a tremendous row and confu- 
sion for a short time, but we soon put it to rights. 
I had warned the authorities repeatedly that the 
Irregulars were not to be trusted, but they were too 
faint-hearted or ^ merciful^ (Heaven forgive me for 
using such a word about such villains) to disarm 
them, and both the regiments, about which I re- 
ported, have since gone wrong. ^ 
July loth. — We are nearly flooded out of camp by 
the rain, and everything is wet and wretched but 
ourselves. I have no respite from work, however, and 
have only time to say that the ladies in the hills 
could not employ themselves better or in a greater 
work of charity than in making flannel-shirts for the 
soldiers, for our stores are either in the enemy's 



228 SIEGE OP DELHI. 

hands or not come-at-able. The soldiers bear up like 
men, but the constant state of wet is no small ad- 
dition to what they have to endure from heat, hard 
work, and hard fig-hting. I know by experience 
what a comfort a dry flannel-shirt is. 

There is a sad joke against me in camp, and I 
cannot help joining in the laugh against myself, 
though enraged at having been the victim of such a 
sell. Fancy my riding up to a party of horse, and 
asking who they were, being told they were our 
own men, 9th Irregulars, and then marching parallel 
to them for three miles, and not three-quarters of a 
mile apart, when, had I known who they were, I 
could have destroyed every man,* Mr. Saunders 
arrived in camp to-day, looking as fat and well as 
possible^ though he and his pretty wife had a narrow 
escape and hard day^s riding from Moradabad. 

July 11th. — Pen- work again all day, as the enemy 
seem to prefer keeping under cover from the rain. 

Mr. ■'s story is so far true, that I did 

earnestly urge the construction of a bridg-e with the 
boats I brought down from Bhagput, but without 
success. There are difficulties, I admit, and great ones, 
but I humbly think they might be overcome now, 
as they certainly could three weeks ago, when our 
plan of assault was suggested, and adopted by General 
Barnard. There is a sad outcry in camp against 
Chamberlain for having used his influence to pre- 
vent the disarming of what remains of the 9th Irregu- 



* ' Tliey went into the city, and reported that they had 
' defeated the great Lall Baliadoor (E-ed Warrior) and a 
' large party of his horse, and were rewarded accordingly.* 

— Letter frora Camp. [En.] 



hodson's horse. 229 

lars. Numbers of them had deserted, and one native 
officer, and those who were on picket duty, actually 
admitted a party of the enemy into our camp ; and 
yet forsooth, because they were Chamberlain's regi- 
ment once on a time, the order to disarm them, 
which the General had actually issued, was cancelled. 
I confess I expected better things than this weak- 
ness, when our very lives depend on firmness and 
decision. Light has just come in ofi" duty, so be- 
grimed with smoke and powder as scarcely to be dis- 
tinguished even by his own men. He is admitted 
to be one of the best of our officers, and certainly 
one of the hardest working. Tombs always dis- 
tinguishes himself. 

Juli/ izt/i. — 300 of my new regiment have just 
arrived. 100 more left Lahore on the 7th, and 100 
will be here very soon from the Sutlej. Mr. Mont- 
gomery has done me most essential service, as I 
could never by myself (with another regiment to 
command, and so much pen- work to do) have got so 
many men together ; and everything he does is so 
complete. He sends figured statements giving all 
details regarding men and horses (these last are very 
difficult to get), which will save me much time and 
labour hereafter. He has been really most kind, and 
has, moreover, during this troublous time, evinced 
an energy, decision, and vigour for which I believe 
the world hardly gave him credit. For officers, I 
hope to have permanently, Maedowell, Shebbeare (now 
acting as my and in command of the Guides, and a 
most excellent officer), and Hugh Gough of the 3rd 

Cavalry. Saunders made 's removal a "^sine qua 

lion' before he would take charge of the district. 



230 SIEGE OF DELHI, 

He came to me to recommenJ a good officer to com- 
mand the Jheend troops. I named that meny grig-, 
George Hal]^ who is_, I believe^ available, and a really 
good soldier. I have got a very nice lad ^ pro tem^ in 
the Guides,, yonng Craigie Halkett^ who promises 
very well indeed. I have seven officers attached to 
the GuideSj but two^ are wounded, and Chalmers is 
very ill. Young Ellis of the ist Fusiliers is down 
with cholera, poor boy; and Colonel Welchman 
dangerously ill and in great agony. I grieve deeply 
for the brave old man, for I fear we shall lose him. 

July j'^th, — We have had news from Agra to-day 
np to the 7th. The Neemuch rebels and others ap- 
proached Agra from the south. The 3rd Europeans 
and D'Oyly's Battery went out to meet them with the 
Kotah Contingent. The Contingent turned agaiast 
us as soon as they came in sight of the enemy. A 
fight ensued, in which the mutineers got well beaten, 
despite the treachery and great disparity of numbers ; 
two of their guns were taken. On our side we lost 
one gun, the tumbrils having been blown up and the 
hT)rses killed. All our men^s ammunition was ex- 
pended, and they had to retire in good order into 
the fort. D'Oyley was killed and two officers wounded. 
Thirty casualties in all. The mutineers then rushed 
into cantonments, which they burnt and pillaged; then 
broke open the great jail and released the prisoners. 
They did not venture near the fort, but marched off 
towards Muttra, and will, I suppose, come here. The. 
delay here is sickening ; if it continues much longer, 
we shall be too weak-handed to attempt to take the 
place until fresh regiments arrive. 

I inspected my three new troops this mornings 



SHARP ENCOUNTER. 231 

very fine-looking fellows, most of them. I am 
getting quite a little army under me, what with the 
Guides and my own men. Would to Heaven they 
would give us something mare to do than this de- 
sultory warfare, which destroys our best men, and 
brings us no whit nearer Delhi, and removes the end 
of the campaign to an indefinite period, 

Jidy \^t1u — Only time* to say I am a^ain mercifully 
preserved, safe and unhurt, after oiae of the sharpest 
encounters we have yet had. Shebbeare got wounded 
•early in the fight, &o I led the Guide Infantry myself 
in the skirmish of the villages and -suburbs, I charged 
the guns with some eight horsemen, a party of the 
Guide Infantry and ist Fusiliers. We ^et within 
thirty yards, but the enemy's grape was too much 
for our small party. Three of my officers, Shebbeare, 
Hawes, and De Br^tt, slightly wounded, and several 
men ; but though well to the front, my party suffered 
proportionably least. 

Of the Fusiliers who were witli us, some sixty men 
were wounded ^ Daniell's arm broken by a shot, Jacob's 
horse shot dead under him, Chamberlain shot through 
the arna, little Roberts wounded, and several more. 

Everybody wonders I was not hitj none more than 
myself. God has been very merciful to me« Colonel 



* Extract from Letter of Colonel (now Sir T.) Seaton, 

from Camp, at this time : — 

'Hodson's courage and conduct are the admh-ation of 

* all, and how he gets througk the immense amount o 
*^work and fatigue he does is marvellous. 

' He has tlie sonndest heart and clearest bead of any 
i inaa hi .cam]}.' 



232 SIEGE or DELHI. 

Welchman better. Brown also. More particulars 
hereafter. 

July i^th. — I could only write a few words last 
night on my return from the fight^ worn out as I was 
with a severe day^s work. It is pretty much the same 
now, and while I write I am obliged to have two men 
to keep the candle alight with their hands, for the 
breeze gets up at night, and we have all the ' Kanats' 
of the tents down to enable us to breathe ; and having 
no shades to the candlesticks, it is rather difficult to 
write even that I am safe. 

July i6th. — I have just bade good-bye to Colonel 
Welchman. The poor old man is better, but sadly 
pulled down and aged. The doctors now think his 
arm may be saved, that it may remain on, but it will 
never be of the slightest use to him again, the elbow- 
joint is so much injured. He and Captain Brown 
start to-morrow night with a convoy of sick and 
wounded men and officers for Umbala and the hills. 
Of these, the ist Pusiliers form a sad proportion. 
"With one or two exceptions, nothing could be better 
or more gallant than the conduct of this regiment. 
Jacob, Greville, Wriford, all admirable in the field, 
and the younger officers beyond all praise; Butler, 
E. Brown, Owen, and Warner, markedly so. In all 
the worst of the awful heat, dust, fatigue, work, and 
privation — and all have been beyond description — our 
plucky fellows have not only kept up their own spirits, 
but been an example and pattern to the camp. If any- 
one was down in his luck he had only "to go to the 
Fusiliers' mess and be jolly. 

The story in the papers about the boot was essen- 
tially correct for once, though how they should 



NAREOW ESCAPE FROM TULWAR. 233 

have got hold of it I do not know, for I never 
mentioned it even to you, since it certainly could 
not be called a wound, though a very narrow escape 
from one. A rascally Pandy made a thrust at my 
horse, which I parried, when he seized his ' tulwar' in 
both hands, bringing it down like a sledge-hammer ; 
it caught on the iron of my antigropelos legging, 
which it broke into the skin, cut through the stirrup- 
leather, and took a slice off my boot and stocking; 
and yet, wonderful to say, the sword did not penetrate 
the skin. Both my horse and myself were staggered 
by the force of the blow, but I recovered myself 
quickly, and I don't think that Pandy will ever raise 
his ^tulwar' again. I should not have entered into all 
these details about self but for those tiresome papers 
having made so much of it. The fight on that day 
(the 14th) was the old story. An attack in force on 
the right of our position ; the enemy were allowed to 
blaze away, expending powder, and doing us no harm, 
until 4 P.M., when a column was sent down to turn 
them out of the gardens and villages they had occupied, 
and drive thiem back to the city. I had just returned 
from a long day's work with the cavalry, miles away in 
the rear, and had come back as far as Light's advanced 
battery. I was chatting with him for a few minutes 
en passant, when I saw the column pass down. I 
joined it, and sent for a few horsemen to accompany 
me, and when we got under fire, I found the Guide 
Infantry, under Shebbeare, had been sent to join in 
the attack. I accompanied them, and while the 
J?^usiliers and Coke's men were driving the mass of 
the enemy helter-skelter through the gardens to our 
right, I went, with the Guides, Goorkhas, and part of 



234 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

the Fusiliers^ along the Grand Trunk Eoad leading 
right into the gates of Delhi. We were exposed to a 
heavy fire of grape from the walls, and musketry from 
behind trees and rocks ; but pushing on, we drove 
them right up to the very walls, killing uncounted 
numbers, and then were ordered to retire. This was 
done too quickly by the artillery, and some confusion 
ensued, the troops hurrying back too fast. The con- 
sequence was, the enemy rallied, bringing up infantry, 
then a large body of cavalry, and behind them again 
two guns to bear on us. There were very few of 
our men, but I managed to get eight horsemen to 
the front. Shebbeare, though wounded, aided me in 
rallying some Guide Infantry, and Greville and Jacob 
(whose horse had just been 'shot) coming up, brought 
a few scattered Fusiliers forward. I called on the 
men to fire, assuring them that the body of cavalry 
coming down would never stand. I got a few men 
to open fire ; my gallant Guides stood their ground 
like men; Shebbeare, Jacob, Greville, and little 
Butler, came to the front, and the mass of the enemy's 
cavalry, just as I said, stopped, reeled, turned, and fled 
in confusion; the guns behind them were for the 
moment deserted, and I tried hard to get up a charge 
to capture them; we were within thirty paces; 
twenty-five resolute men would have been enough; 
but the soldiers were blown, and could not push on 
in the face of such odds, unsupported as we were, for 
the whole of the rest of the troops had retired. My 
eight horsemen stood their ground, and the little knot 
of officers used every exertion to aid us, when suddenly 
two rascals rushed forward with lighted portfires in 
their hands, fired the guns, loaded with grape, in our 



GALLANTRY OF GUIDES AND FUSILIERS. 235 

faces, and wlien the smoke cleared away, we found_, to 
our infinite disgust and chagrin^ that they had 
limbered up the guns and were off at a gallop. We 
had then to effect our retreat to rejoin the column, 
under a heavy fire of grape and musketry, and many 
men and ofiieers were hit in doing it. I managed to 
get the Guides to retire quietly, fighting as they 
went, and fairly checking the enemy, on which I 
galloped back and brought up two guns, when we 
soon stopped all opposition, and drove the last living 
rebel into his Pandemonium. My Guides stood firm, 
and, as well as my new men, behaved admirably ; not 
so all who were engaged, and it was in consequence 
of that poor Chamberlain got wounded; for seeing a 
hesitation among the troops he led, who did not like 
the look of a wall lined with Pandies, and stopped 
short instead of going up to it, he leaped his horse 
clean over the wall into the midst of them, and dared 
the men to follow, which they did, but he got a ball in 
the shoulder. There is not a braver heart or cooler 
head in camp; his fault is too great hardihood and 
exposure in the field and a sometimes too injudicious 
indifference to his own life, or that of his men. We 
are in a nice fix here ; General Reed is so ill he is 
ordered away at once ; Chamberlain is on his back for 
six weeks at least; Norman, however, is safe and 
doing admirably, were he to be hit, the ' head-quarters^ 
would break down altogether. There will be no assault 
on Delhi yet; our rulers will now less than ever 
decide on a bold course ; and truth to tell, the numbers 
of the enemy have so rapidly increased, and ours have 
been so little replenished in proportion, and our losses, 
for a small army, have been so severe, that it becomes 



236 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

a question^ wliether now we have numbers sufficient 
to risk an assault. Would to Heaven it had been 
tried when I first pressed it. How many brave hearts 
have been sacrificed in consequence. Coke's men 
suffered severely on the 14th from getting too close, 
yet not close enough^ to the city walls. 

July \']th. — But little private writing for me to- 
day , as I have only just come back from Brigadier 
Hope Grant's tent, whither I went on business, and 
I have been fully occupied with news writers cum 
multis allis. I begin to think of giving up this 
Quartermaster-General's work now that times are 
so changed. I began with poor General Anson, 
' under his Excellency's personal orders ;' I continued 
this work under General Barnard at his request, and 
now for these last days under General Reed ; but he 
too is incapacitated by sickness, age, and anxiety, and 
goes off to the hills to-night. Colonel Curzon left 
for Simla yesterday. Colonel Congreve also goes, so 
the head-quarters of the army are finally breaking 
up. The Adjutant-General (Chamberlain) is badly 
wounded, the Quartermaster-General (Colonel Becher) 
ditto, though he does work a little in-doors, if one 
may use such an expression of a tent, but he ought 
not to do even that much, so badly hurt as he is. 
Colonel Young, Norman, and myself are therefore 
the only representatives of the head-quarter staff, 
except the doctors and commissaries. The head 
quarters of the army are now at Calcutta, General 
Pat Grant's arrival having been announced, and this 
army has dropped into merely a field force, commanded 
by Brigadier Wilson as senior, with the rank of 
Brigadier-General. I can hardly reconcile myself to 



SMART FIGHTING. 237 

throw up the Intelligence Department now that I 
have had the trouble of getting it into working order, 
but for my own sake I must do so, for it is a terrible 
drag on me, and ties me down too much. I am 
wonderfully" well, thank God! and able to get through. 
as much work as any man; but commanding two 
regiments, and being eyes and ears of the army too, 
is really too much ! Shebbeare and Macdowell are 
appointed to my regiment in general orders — the 
former as second in command, but to continue for the 
present with the Guides ; the latter as adjutant, but 
to act as second in command also, for the present. 
I hope to have another officer or two in a few days, 
as more now devolves on poor Mac than his fragile 
frame can well stand. I wish his bodily strength 
was equal to his will and courage. It is hot, oh ! 
how hot, and we can have nothing but a hand 
punkah occasionally; if our servants were to make 
off, we should indeed be in a pretty predicament, but 
hitherto they have been faithful and unmurmuring. 

July i^th, — I was quite unable to write yesterday, 
as I went out long before daylight ; so with the 
exception of a few minutes at 8 a.m. I was in the 
saddle until dark ! We had a smart engagement in 
the afternoon. I was sent for to take the Guide 
cavalry down into the suburbs to support some guns, 
and assist in driving the enemy back into the city. 
We "were commanded by a fine old gentleman, who 
might sit for a portrait of Falstaff, so fat and jolly is 
he ; Colonel Jones of the 6oth Rifles. We got 
down to our point, close to the walls of Delhi, 
easily enough, the rascally enemy being ready enough 
to turn and fly for shelter ; but to return was the 



288 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

difficulty ; the instant we began to draw off, they 
followed uSj their immense numbers giving them a 
great power of annoyance at very slight cost to 
themselves. The brave old colonel was going to 
retire ' all of a heap/ infantry^ guns^ and all in a 
helpless mass, and we should have suffered cruel loss 
in those narrow roads, with walls and buildings on 
both sides. I rode up to him and pointed this out, 
and in reply received carte hlanclie to act as I saw 
best. This was soon done with the assistance of 
Henry Vicars (Adjutant 6ist) and Coghill (Adjutant 
2nd Bengal European Fusiliers), both cool soldiers 
under fire, though so young, and we got off in good 
order and with trifling loss, drawing the men back 
slowly and in regular order, covered by Dixon and 
Money's guns. My own men, whose duty was the 
difficult one of enduring a very hot fire without 
acting, behaved admirably, and I had the satisfaction 
of losing only one killed, and two wounded, besides 
a few horses, who generally come off second best 
where bullets are flying about. My poor ' Feroza ' 
was hit by one, but not dangerously, and I was again 
most mercifully preserved unharmed. I was out 
again early this morning reconnoitring, and have only 
just returned in time to write even so much, too 
much of myself as usual for my own feeling, but you 
will have it so.* 



* 'On the return of the detachment from the fight of 
'the 1 8th, Colonel Jones, who commanded, went to the 
' General and begged to thank Captain Hodson for his 
' most gallant and efficient assistance, adding his hope for 
' no better aid whenever he had to lead for the future.' — 
Extract from a Letter from Camp. 



NUMBERS OF ENEMY. 239 

July loth. — I had a very fatiguing, because sun- 
shiny_, ride yesterday, and a troublesome species of 
reconnaissance, to prevent the enemy getting into our 
rear. Their name is indeed ' legion ' compared with us. 
I should say from all I can ascertain by the news- 
letters, that there cannot be less than 36,000 * fighting 
men in Delhi, while we are barely a fifth of that 
number, including cavalry and all ! Our position 
however, is much strengthened, and we now beat 
them with half the trouble we had at first, their 
appetite for fighting being considerably lessened by 
having been so repeatedly driven back ; but alas ! we 
only drive them back, while we do not advance an 
inch. The odds have moreover fearfully increased 
against us by their continued accessions, and I confess 
I now see less and less hope of success in an assault ; 
when I first urged it, the enemy had not more than 
7000 Sepoys in the city, while we had 2000 infantry 
alone. Now, as I said before, the case is very different ; 
for even were we to undertake an assault with a 
reasonable prospect of success, if they should in 
despair determine to defend the city inch by inch or 
street by street, we should not have men enough to 
secure our hold upon it. In that case the city people 
(all of whom are armed) would join in the fray, and 
considering what the consequences of failure would be, 
and farther, that to do this much we should be obliged 
to use up every man available, leaving no one, or 
next to none, to protect our camp, sick and wounded, 
from any attempt of the enemy, or of our questionable 



* It was ultimately ascertained that there wore 
70,000 or 75,000 ! 



240 SIEGE or DELHI. 

friends the country people^ it becomes a matter of 
serious and painful consideration. A want of success, 
moreover, would now be productive of infinite mischief. 
From hence to Allahabad, the fort of Agra and the 
Residency" of Lucknow are the only spots where the 
British flag" still flies. We are more to be considered 
now as an isolated baud, fighting for our very name 
and existence in the midst of an enemy's country, 
than as an avenging army about to punish a rebel 
force. Sir H. Lawrence is holding out at Lucknow, 
but Cawnpore has fallen into the hands of the rebels. 
Sir Hugh Wheeler, after three weeks' contest, with, 
we hear, only 150 Europeans, in an evil hour 
capitulated, on condition of being provided with 
boats and a free passage to Allahabad] as soon as 
they were on board the boats, the whole were 
massacred ! What became of the women and children 
we know not : it is hoped they might have been sent 
away earlier and escaped; otherwise it is horrible to 
think of what may have been their fate. Troops are 
collecting fast at Allahabad, and I hope moving on 
towards Cawnpore ; some think we shall be forced to 
await their arrival at or near Delhi, before we can 
do anything efiective. I trust earnestly that the 
city will not hold out so long. The people within it 
are immensely disheartened, and dissensions are rif§ 
among them. A split between the Hindoos and 
fanatic Mahommedans is almost inevitable, and above 
all, money is getting scarce. Meantime, this ' waiting 
race ' is very wearying to heart and body. 

.... I have determined on giving up the Assistant 
Quartermaster-Generalship. It gives me more work 
than I really can manage in such weather, in addition 



FACING DANGER. 241 

to the command of two regiments. Macdowell pro- 
mises admirably^ and I trust there is every hope of 
our having- a nice body of officers with ^Hodson's 
Horse,^ Nothing further from Agra, beyond the 
assurance that all was well there. 

July 'X'ist. — Just returned from a long reconnaissance, 
and the post going out, so I have time but for little. 
Do not believe what the idle gossips say of my ' doing 
the work of two or three men.^ I strive to do my 
duty, but I cannot consider I do more. I do not 
run wanton risks, but I cannot stand by and see what 
ought to be done without risking something to do it. 
Had I not attempted what I did on. the 14th, even 
with the insufficient means at my command, we 
should have been exposed to a disastrous loss of life, 
and to the discredit of a reverse. That we cannot^ 
afford. It is not only the possession of India which 
is at stake, not only our name and fame as English- 
men, but the safety, life, and honour of those nearest 
and dearest to us ; were we to fail here, the horrible 
scenes of Meerut, Delhi, Hohilcund, Jhansee, and 
others, would be repeated in the Punjab and hill 
stations. Who, then, as husband, brother, father, son, 
would hesitate to face any danger, any risk, which 
tended to secure victory? I saw that our men were 
retiring (by order) in great confusion, that five 
minutes more and the whole party would be destroyed, 
and the fate of the column sealed, for the enemy^s 
cavalry and guns were opening on us at speed. It 
was a natural impulse to rush forward, and nobly was 
I aided by Jacob and Grreville, and my handful of 
gallant Guides ; the tide was turned by the sudden- 
ness of the act ; the enemy were driven back, and our 

B 



242 SIEGE OE DELHI. 

men liad time to breathe. This was not much to do, 
but it was a great deal to gain. 

JzcIt/ 22nd. — Again but a few lines_, for I have been 
regularly hunted all day. I told you that Sir H. 
Wheeler had capitulated^ and been treacherously 
destroyed^ with his party ; we have since heard that a 
force from Allahabad had reached Cawnpore under 
Colonel Neill of the Madras Fusiliers^ that Sir H. 
Lawrence has been succoured^ and thatj in point of 
factj our power up to Agra had been re-established. 
God grant this be true. Agra is safe^ and all well ; 
the troops which attacked it are afraid to come on 
herCj and have halted at Muttra. The force in Delhi 
is much disheartened, and fights with gradually de- 
caying energy. Already we have beaten them back 
in twenty-three fights, besides a few such afiairs on 
my own private account, and though with consider- 
able loss to us, yet with comparative ease, when you 
consider their overwhelming numbers. We had an 
engagement on the evening of the 20th, in which 
Colonel Seaton commanded our column, the ist 
Fusiliers, 6ist Foot, and Guides as usual. I had 
command of the Guide infantiy, and led the advance 
as well as covered the retreat; and though we pushed 
close up to Delhi, we never had a shot fired from the 
walls until we had set out on our return to camp 
some way. They then came howling after us like 
jackals, but the Guides were mindful of their old 
leader's voice, and steadily kept them in check dui'ing 
the whole distance, so completely that not a European 
soldier was under fire, and I only lost four men 
slightly wounded, while the enemy returned in utter 
discomfiture. Poor Light has been very ill, and 



THE GUIDES AND THEIR LEADER. 243 

Thompson has a bullet through his leg. Bishop 
also is wounded; he retains the same calm com- 
posure of manner under the hottest fire and hardest 
vvorkj as he habitually exhibited on the Mall. These 
are excellent officers^ but Tombs and Light are really 
splendid. I hope Chamberlain's arm will be saved ; 
he is a noble fellow, but of course has his weak- 
nesses. 

eTul?/ lA^th. — I was quite unable to write yesterday. 
Paudy chose an unusually inconvenient hour for his 
attack, and kept us out until the afternoon, and then 
I was busied in attending to our poor friend Colonel 
Seaton, who, I grieve to say, was badly wounded, a 
musket-ball having entered his left breast and come 
out at his back, providentially passing outside the 
ribs instead of through his body ; his lungs are, how- 
ever, slightly injured, either by a broken rib or the con- 
cussion, and until it is ascertained to what extent this 
has gone, he is considered in danger. I do not myself 
think there is danger, as no unfavourable symptom has 
yet appeared, except a slight spitting of blood; but 
he is so patient and quiet that all is in his favour. I 
am deeply sorry for him, dear fellow ! and fervently 
pray that he may be spared to us. There was little 
actual fighting ; the rascals ran the instant they came 
in contact vvith our men ; the only firing being behind 
banks and garden-walls. Colonel Drought, late 
6oth Native Infantry, was wounded ; Captain Money 
of the Artillery got a bad knock on the knee-joint, 
and Law of the i oth Native Infantry killed ; two 
killed and five wounded in the ist Fusiliers, who as 
usual bore the brunt. After many discussions pro 
and con, it has been arranged that I retain the 

E, 2 



244 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

Intelligence Department and give up the Guides. 
My own men require great attention^ as they are 
now in considerable numbers ; so the General has 
begged me to relinquish the Guides instead of the 
Assistant Quartermaster- Generalship ; the command 
of two regiments being an anomaly. I am very 
ready to do this^ though I regret the separation from 
the meUj and should have liked to have led my old 
corps into Delhi; but it is best as it is. You at 
least will rejoice that it greatly diminishes the risk 
to life and iimb^ which^ I confesSj lately has been 
excessive in my case. The General was very com- 
plimentary on my doings while commanding the 
Guides^ and ' trusted to receive equally invaluable 
services from my new regiment.'' I have little doubt 
of this, if I am spared. I find General Barnard 
reported no less than four times on my doings in the 
highest terms; and the last public letter he ever 
wrote was a special despatch to Government in my 
favour. It was, in fact, the only letter of the kind he 
ever wrote, for death intervened just as he was 
setting to work to bring those who had done well 
to the notice of Government. 

They tell me I shall get pay for the Assistant 
Quartermaster-GeneraFs Department,* as well as my 
command allowance. For the Guides, of course I 
shall get nothing; but, I must say, I work, not like 
a 'nigger,^ considering their work usually amounts to 
nil, but like a slave, in the Intelligence Department. 



* It was, however, refused by the Government, though 
asked for in the strongest terms of j^raise by Colonel 
A. Beclier, Quartermaster- General, and recommended by 
the General ! — Ed. 



' TOUJOURS l'audace.' 245 

I liave been deeply shocked to hear that poor Chris- 
tiaiij his young wife^ and babes were among the 
murdered in Oudh. Also Colonel Golduey. . . . All is 
well at Agra; there are about 6000 individuals in 
the fort, with provisions for six months; they are 
probably relieved by now, for we hear that six 
English regiments were at Cawnpore on the nth 
instant. This cheers up the men, and makes them 
think that Government has some thought for the 
gallant fellows here and elsewhere. I sent by Martin, 
of the 75th, a parcel for Mrs. Hallifax, containing, 
with other things, the old pistol her poor husband 
gave me. I should have liked to have kept it as a 
memorial of him, but as she wished for it, of course I 
resign it ; the other arms, except the revolver, which 
Dr. Stewart says he lost, were packed up and sent 
to Umbala with other things. 

Juli/ 2<^th. — Well, yes, I did offer to go down the 
Do^b tovvards Agra and Cawnpore, to open the com- 
munication, and ascertain exactly where the reinforce- 
ments were, and assist them with cavalry in coming 
up towards Delhi. It would have been of real use, 
and not so dangerous as this eternal potting work 
here. I proposed to take 600 of my Horse, ^^50 in- 
fantry of the Guides, and four guns ; could I not have 
made my way with these ? I humbly opine I could, 
I do not mean to say it was not a bold stroke, but in 
Indian warfare I have always found ' toujours Faudace ^ 
not a bad motto. I can never forget how much 
we have at stake, that we have a continent in 
arms against us ; and I do think (and certainly shall 
always act so) that every man should do not only 
his duty but his utmost in a crisis like the present. 



246 SIEGE or DELHI. 

July 0,6111. — A parcel with flannel-shirts^ he, arrived 
last night. Those for the men I sent off to the hos- 
pital at once, to the doctors^ great delight. Macdowell 
declares that the cap, his ^jumpers/ and the 'baccy* 
Lord W. Hay was to send, must he in the box, and 
demands them imperiously. He is doing admirably, 
and promises to be a first-rate officer of light horse. 
He rides well, which is one good thing, and is brave 
as a lion^s whelp, which is another. I only fear whether 
he has physical strength for such work in such 
weather. The whole country is a steaming bog. I 
keep my health wonderfully, thank God I in spite of 
heat, hard work, and exposure ; and the men bear up 
like Britons. We all feel that Government ought to 
allow every officer and man before Delhi to count 
every month spent here as a year of service in India. 
There is much that is disappointing and disgusting 
to a man who feels that more might have been done, 
but I comfort myself with the thought, that history 
(if Russell, not Macaulay, writes it) will do justice to 
the constancy and fortitude of the handful of English- 
men who have for so many weeks — months, I may 
say — of desperate weather, amid the greatest toil and 
hardship, resisted and finally defeated the worst and 
most strenuous exertions of an entire army and a 
whole nation in arms, — an army trained by ourselves, 
and supplied with all but exhaustless munitions of 
war, laid up by ourselves for the maintenance of our 
Empire. I venture to aver that no other nation in 
the world would have remained here, or have avoided 
defeat had they attempted to do so. The delay as 
yet has been both morally and politically bad in many 
ways, and the results are already beginning to be 



ENGLISH NATION. 247 

manifest, but in tlie end it will increase our prestige 
and the moral effects of our power. A nation which 
could conquer a country like the Punjab so recently 
with an Hindoostanee army, and then turn the 
energies of the conquered Sikhs to subdue the very 
army by which they were tamed ; which could fight 
out a position like Pesbawur for years in the very 
teeth of the Affghan tribes ; and then, when suddenly 
deprived of the regiments which effected this, could 
unhesitatingly employ those very tribes to disarm and 
quell those regiments when in mutiny, — a nation 
which could do this is destined indeed to rule the 
world ; and the races of Asia must succumb. This is 
a proud feeling, and nerves one's arm in many a time 
of difficulty and danger, as much almost as the con- 
viction that we must conquer, or worse than death 
awaits us. The intelligence of Sir H. Wheeler's de- 
struction came to us from too true a source to be 
doubted — it was in dear Sir Henry Lawrence's own 
handwriting ; and has been confirmed, alas, too 
surely. All we do not know is whether the women 
and children were massacred with the' men, or 
whether they escaped, or were reserved for a worse 
fate. 

One of my news-letters reports that eighteen 
women are in prison under the care (?) of Nana 
Sahib (Bajee Rao Peish war's adopted son), who at- 
tacked Cawnpore. You must remember at the 
artillery review a very ^ swell ' looking native gentle- 
man, accompanied by another educated native, who 
spoke French and other European languages, and was 
talking a good deal to Alfred Light. Well, this was 
the identical Nana Sahib who has done all this, and 



248 SIEGE OE DELHI. 

who must even at that very time have been meditating 
the treachery^ if not the murders. 

There is not a word of truth in the report of ^ the 
King of Delhi coming out for a final struggle.' 
E-umour has been saying so for weeks with no founda- 
tion ; the truth is^ the King is a mere puppet, a 
'ruse.' He is old, and well nigh impotent, and is only 
used as authority for all the acts of rebellion and 
barbarity enacted by his sons. The rascals talk (in 
the city) of coming round on our rear, and attacking 
us in the field. I only wish they would, for in the 
open plain we should hunt them down like jackals. 
They escape us now by flying back into the city, or 
under cover of the heavy batteries from its walls. 
When (if ever) they do come out, the General has 
proposed to put the whole of the Irregular Cavalry 
under my command, and I trust to give a tolerable 
account of the enemy, and show that ' Hodson's Horse' 
are capable of something even already. 

Colonel Seaton is doing admirably, I am thankful 
to say. Pie is patient and gentle in suffering as a 
woman, and this helps his recovery wonderfully. 

Jul?/ i']t]i. — Since the 23rd, hardly a shot has been 
fired here. The news-letters from the city mention 
meetings in the marketplace and talkings at the 
corners of the streets, with big words of what they 
intend to do ; but they (the people) are actually cowed 
and dispirited, while their rulers issue orders which 
are never obeyed. 

I fear our movements wait upon theirs. We have 
no one in power with a head to devise or a heart 
to dare any enterprise which might result in the 
capture of Delhi ; and alas ! one cannot but admit 



NEWS OF CHINA FORCE, 249 

that it would require both a wise head and a very- 
great heart to run the risk with so reduced a force 
as we have here now. 2,2,00 Europeans* and 1500 
Native Infantry are all that we can now muster. Wq 
have reliable news from below, that on or about the 
14th, General Havelock, with the first portion of the 
European force, met and attacked the villain Nana, 
near Futteypore (between Allahabad and Cawnpore), 
and beat him thoroughly, capturing his camp, twelve 
guns, and seven lac of rupees. The China troops had 
arrived : Lord Elgin having consented to the employ- 
ment of the whole. 

Sir P. Grant is coming up with these troops, ' on 
dit,' so that in six weeks from the date of the 
Meerut massacre, 1 1,000 European troops will have 
landed in India : what a providential arrival, and what 
a lesson to Asiatics that they can never contend 
with England. 

This news has put the whole camp, even the 
croakers, of whom there are not a few, in high spirits. 
I only hope it is not too good to be true. 

As a set-off against this, news has arrived that 
Tudor, Tucker, his wife, and Sam Fisher, are among 
the victims of this horrible insurrection, also, poor 
James Thomason : and of his brother-in-law's. Dr. 
Hay's, execution, there can be no longer a doubt. 
How many hecatombs of Sepoys would it require to 

* Eui^opean force before Delhi, August i : — 

Infantry 2000 

Cavalry 500 

Artillery . ... . . g^o 

3050 
On actual daily duty 2007. 



250 SIEGE OP DELHI. 

atone for their deaths alone. When shall we see the 
last ; when know the full extent of these horrible atro- 
cities ? The accounts make one's blood run fire. 
Our dear Doug-las Seaton has arrived in England, 
much restored by the voyage, but not, I fear, suffi- 
ciently recovered to return, as soon as he would hear 
of the outbreak. A sad blow for him, poor fellow, for 
had he been here to command the regiment, he would 
probably have been a full Colonel and C.B. at the 
end. I am seriously uneasy at receiving no letters 
from England, though mail after mail must have 
arrived, and some people get their letters : therefore, 
why not I mine ? We get none even from Agra, and 
of course not below it, except by ' Kossid,' and they 
but little scraps, written half in Greek characters, to 
mislead or deceive, if the unfortunate bearer is stopped. 
They conceal them very ingeniously between the 
leather of their shoes, or tied up in their hair. I 
enclose one that came in even a more singular letter- 
bag than either, rolled up in a piece of wax and 
packed into a hollow tooth. 

tells me that was furious at my 

having the Guides, but was compelled to acquiesce 
in it ' as it was undoubtedly the best thing for the 
public service.' How he must have winced when he 
was forced to confess that. 

July 2,Wi. — I have no news. The Pandies have 
not attacked us since the 23rd, and are much dis- 
pirited. In reply to your and Mrs. 's wish to 

come to Delhi as nurses, I must say honestly that 
there is no necessity for such a sacrifice. Our position 
here is very different from that in the Crimea and at 
Scutari. There the men died from want of care and 



LADIES IN CAMP. 251 

of the ordinary necessaries of life. Here there is no 
absolute want of anything^ except a genial climate 
and well-built hospitals^ neither of which you could 
supply. The men are attended to immediately they 
are sick or wounded ; and within an hour, sometimes 
half that time, of his being wounded, a soldier is in 
his bed, with everything actually necessary, and the 
greatest medical attention. Unless any unforeseen 
emergenc}^ should arise, I would strongly dissuade any 
lady from coming to camp. 

I have always urged the authorities to send away, 
as fast as possible, those who have arrived as refugees. 
We have a vast camp, or rather position, five miles 
in circumference, and we are constantly obhged to 
take every man into the field. The guard for our 
sick is trifling enough, and our difiiculties would be 
increased were there women also to be thought of; 
and God forbid that any more lives should be risked 
in this dreadful servile war. There is also another 
consideration of much weight against the tender 
sympathy which prompts the offer. How is a deli- 
cate woman^s constitution to bear up against the evils 
of a tented field in the rains, or render efi&cient service 
in such a climate as this is now ? They would all very 
speedily become patients in the very hospitals which 
they came to serve and would so willingly support. 
The flannel garments are invaluable, and this is all 
that can be done for us by female hands at present. 

July i(^tli. — I have been so occupied with business 
all day that I have only time to say we have had no 
more fighting, and the whole atmosphere is still, but 
hot, oh, so hot. General Wilson is unwell, and will 
probably break down, like the rest. These sexa- 



252 SIEGE OE DELHI. 

genarians are unfit for work in July. I expect Napier 
will be with the advancing" troops. I sincerely hope 
so. He is the man to do somethings if they will 
but let him. 

July ^isf. — I intended writing more fully to make 
up for my late shortcomings^ but the Pandies permit 
it not. They made an attempt on our position this 
morning; nothing more, however^ than a distant 
cannonade. A large party have moved round in our 
rear^ and this has kept me in the saddle all day. I 
have just returned^ after some hours of the heaviest 
rain I was ever out in^ drenched to the skin, of course, 
and somewhat tired, so judge what a comfort a dry 
flannel-shirt must be. There was no actual fighting, 
so, with the exception of keeping us out so long, and 
a great expenditure of powder and shot, no harm 
was done. 

August 1st, — The continued heavy rain promises 
to give me more time for pen work to-day, if no 
more takes place on the side of Pandy-monium. The 
box has arrived safely with the new ^jumpers,' &c. 
Lord William's additions are invaluable. We have 
fresh accounts from below that every European woman 
and child have been ruthlessly murdered at Cawn- 
pore. The details are too revolting to put on paper, 
and make one's blood boil. Mothers with infants 
in their arms murdered with fiendish cruelty, and 
worse than all, two young girls just arrived froua 
England are said to have been only saved to meet a 
worse fate in some Mussulman's zenana. There 
will be a day of reckoning for these things, and a 
fierce one, or I have been a soldier in vain. You 
say there is a great difference between doing one's 



IDEA or 'duty.' 253 

duty and running unnecessary risks^ and you say 
truly ; the only question is, what is one^s duty. Now, 
I might, as I have more than once, see things going 
wrong at a time and place when I might be merely 
a spectator, and not ' on duty,' or ordered to be there, 
and I might feel that by exposing myself to danger 
for a time I might rectify matters, and I might 
therefore think it right to incur that danger; and yet 
if I were to get hit, it would be said ' he had no 
business there ;' nor should I, as far as the rules of the 
service go, though in my own mind I should have been 
satisfied that I was right. These are times when every 
man should do his best, his utmost, and not say, 
' No j though I see I can do good there, yet, as I have 
not been ordered and am not on duty, I will not do 
it.' This is not my idea of a soldier's duty, and 
hitherto the results have proved me right. Poor 
Eaton Travers, of Coke's regiment, was killed this 
morning. He had just come from England via Bom- 
bay, with a young wife, whom he left at Lahore. Poor 
young thing, a sad beginning and end for her. We 
send off convoys of the sick and wounded to Umbala, 
where we hear they are well tended and are doing 
well. Even here everything possible is done for them ; 
Dr. Brougham is an excellent man and first-rate 
surgeon, quite the man of the camp in his line, clever, 
indefatigable, and humane. 

27icl. — The rebels attacked us about 5 p.m. yester- 
day, and kept us at it till seven or eight this 
morning. Our people kept steadily at their posts 
and behind entrenchments, and drove them back with 
steady volleys every time they came near. The result 
was, that they were punished severely, while our loss 



254 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

was a very trifling one, not more than half-a-dozen 
Europeans killed and wounded; it is next to impos- 
sible ever to ascertain accurately what the enemy ^s 
loss is. 

Colonel Seaton is doing well ; in three weeks^ time 
I hope he will be about again. Before this surely 
our rulers will consent to take Delhi. Sickness is on 
the increase^ and we have been nearly losing another 
General. General Wilson was very ill for a few days, 
but is now better. He is older, however, by ten 
years than he was. The responsibility and anxiety 
of what is certainly a very difficult position, have been 
too much for him, and he has got into the way of 
being nervous and alarmed, and over-anxious even 
about trifles, which shakes one's dependence on his 
judgment. These men are personally as brave as 
lions, but they have not big hearts or heads enough 
for circumstances of serious responsibility. This 
word is the bugbear which hampers all our proceed- 
ings. Would we could have had Sir Henry Lawrence 
as our leader ; we should have been in Delhi weeks 
ago. I hope Colonel Napier is coming up with the 
force. He has head, and heart, and nerve, and the 
moral courage to act as if he had. We hear that 
the crisis is passing; all below Cawnpore is safe, and 
all above Kurnal to Peshawur ; while Lord W. Hay 
keeps the more important hill stations steady. When 
all is over, our power will be stronger than ever, 
principally because we shall have got rid of our great 
sore, a native army. 

3^?. — 4 P.M. and I have only just got out of the 
saddle, and found on my arrival in camp the heaviest 
news that has yet reached us. Report says that Sir 



REPORT OF SIR H. LAWRENCe's DEATH. 255 

Henry is dead ! The news wants confirmation, and 
God grant that it may be untrue. I should lose one 
of my best friends, and the country (in Lord 
Dalhousie's words on poor Mackeson) ' one whose 
loss would dim a victory/ I cannot write more to- 
day; the news has quite unnerved me. 

/\tJi. — Two letters have just arrived from General 
Havelock at Cawnpore. They were written at an 
interval of ten days, and mentioned his having had 
three successful fights, on the 12th, 15th, and i6th of 
July, and the re-occupation of Cawnpore. The first 
of these letters mentions a report that Sir Henry had 
died on the 4th July, of wounds received on the 2nd ; 
but the second lettex-, written ten days later, does not 
even allude to a circumstance of such importance, and 
the Sikh who brought it, and who left Havelock near 
LucknoW, on his way to its relief, maintains that it is 
not true, and that Sir Henry Lawrence was alive when 
he left, as letters were constantly passing from Have- 
lock's camp to the ' Burra Sahib/ God grant, for his 
country's sake and for mine, that it be not true. To the 
country his death would be worse than the loss of a 
province ; to me it would be the loss of my truest and 
most valued friend. I hope, yet fear to hope, that it 
may be a false report; yet what soldier would wish a 
more noble, a more brilliant end to such a career? 
Havelock has captured all the enemy's guns, and in- 
flicted severe punishment. The destruction of Sir Hugh 
Wheeler and his party is fully confirmed, and Havelock 
was too late to save the unfortunate women and chil- 
dren, who were massacred in their prison, before his 
arrival, by their guards. Such fiends as these our arms 
have never met with in any part of the world. May 



256 SIEGE or DELHI. 

our vengeance be as speedy as it will unquestionably 
be sure ! 

We (Hodson's Horse) are getting on very comfort- 
ably^ and are going to start a mess on our own 
account, so as to be ready to march without diffi- 
culty when required. 

^th. — To-day the accounts received from a native 
Commissariat Agent, arrived at Meerut from Lucknow, 
are positive as to Sir H. Lawrence being alive a 
fortnight after he was said to have died. This, if 
reliable, is good indeed. The letter I annex ^ from 
Colonel Tytler gives good news, and the man who 
brought the letter, says there were fourteen steamers 
and flats at Cawnpore when he left. The troops 
had taken Bithoor, the Nana's place, and at first it 
was uninjured, but the bodies of some English women 
were found inside the Nana's house, on which the 
European soldiers, excited to irresistible fury, de- 
stroyed every human being in the place, and then 
demolished the building, not leaving one stone upon 
another. The Nana himself, with his family, took 
refuge in a boat on the river, and the native accounts 



* 'Cawnpore, July 26tJi. 
' General Havelock has crossed the river to relieve 
' Lucknow, which will be effected four days hence. 

' We shall probably march to Delhi to-morrow, with 
' 4000 or 5000 Europeans, and a heavy artillery, in 
' number, not weight. 

' The China force is in Calcutta, 5000 men. More 
' troops expected immediately. We shall soon be with 
' you. — Yours truly, 

' B. A. Tytler, 
' Lieut.-Gol., Q^iartermaster-General 
' Moveable Column.'' 



NANA SAHIB. 257 

add that he sunk it^ and all were drowned. This I 
strongly doubt; such Spartan heroism could scarcely 
exist in the mind of one who could violate and 
massacre helpless women and children. Indeed, I 
hope it is not true ; for it is one of my aims to have 
the catching of the said Nana myself. The hanging 
him would be a positive pleasure to me. I trust the 
day of retribution is not far distant. 

6t]i. — Small chance of much writing to-day, for 
just as I have got into camp, after some hours' atten- 
dance on the pleasure of the Pandies, who came out 
in force and threatened an attack, I find that I 
have to start on a long reconnoitring expedition, from 
which I cannot return till late at night. This is 
unfortunate, as I have much pen work on hand, my 
necessary official writing being very onerous. I was 
obliged to write as long a letter as I could to Lord 
W. Hay, if but to thank him, in my own and others' 
name, for the comforts he so thoughtfully sent us. 

I have a very complimentary letter from G. Barnes, 
the Commissioner, as well as some others, enough to 
turn one's head with vanity ; but I have had bitter 
experience of its rottenness, and take the flattery at 
its full value, namely, ' nil.' I fear from fresh reports 
arrived, that Havelock will not come and help us, after 
all. They say he has the strictest orders to relieve 
Lucknow only, and that however much he may 
desire to march on to Delhi, it is out of his power to 
do so. It is true we do not want him. Delhi surely 
must be taken as soon as ever the reinforcements get 
down here from the Punjab. Our rulers must then 
see the necessity for action. 

'jth. — I returned at three o'clock this morniug- 

s 



258 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

from a forty miles' ride over the worst and wettest 
country I was ever in, and I am thoroughly ex- 
hausted, though everybody is wanting something, 
and I must attend to business first, and then to rest. 
Wi. — I could write nothing but ofiicial papers all 
the sedentary part of yesterday. I did not get in 
till 9 P.M. The news from below mentions good dear 
old Br. Lyell as among the killed at Patna. Brave, 
noble fellow, his gallant spirit has led him to the 
front once too often. He had always as much of the 
warrior as of the surgeon in him. The report has 
again gained ground of dear Sir Henry's death, but 
my heart refuses credence to so great a misfortune. I 
do trust that when the 5 and arrive, we may be 
allowed to do something better than this pot-shot 
work. Nicholson has come on a-head, and is a host in 
himself, if he does not go and get knocked over as 
Chamberlain did. The camp is all alive at tlie notion of 
something decisive taking place soon, but I cannot 
rally from the fear of dear Sir Henry's fate. How 
many of my friends are gone. My heart is divided 
between grief for those precious victims, and deep 
gratitude to God for my own safety and that of those 
dearest to me. May He in his mercy preserve me 
for further exertion and an ultimate reunion, and if 
not. His will be done. I have a letter from an un- 
fortunate woman, a Mrs. Leesou, who was saved from 
the slaughter at Delhi, on May nth, by an AfFghan 
lad, after she had been wounded, and her child 
slaughtered in her arms. She is still concealed in 

CD 

the Affghan's house. I heard that there was a 
woman there, and managed to efiect a commu- 
nication with her, through one of the Guides, and to 



MAID OF DELHI. 259 

send lier money, &c., and so I tliink the poor creature 
may be preserved till we enter Delhi, if we fail in 
getting her free before. I fear she is the only 
European, or rather the only Christian (for she her- 
self is hardly European), left alive from the massacre. 
Her husband was the son of Major Leeson, and a 
clerk in a Government office in Delhi. I have sent 
one of our few prisoners up to Forsyth at Umbala, 
whom we ironically call the ' Maid of Delhi,^ though 
her age and character are questionable, and her 
ugliness undoubted. She actually came out on 
horseback, and fought against us like a fiend. The 
General at first released her, but knowing how 
mischievous she would be among those superstitious 
Mahommedans, I persuaded him to let her be 
recaptured, and made over for safe custody. It is a 
moot point whether any assault will be made as soon 
as the 52ud arrive. I can only go on hoping, but I 
confess I am not very sanguine about anything being 
done now. 

Our General since his illness has got a still 
weaker dread of responsibility, and ceased to be 
nearly as vigorous even as heretofore. Would indeed 
that we had had Sir H. Lawrence here : that he may 
have been, and still be spared to us, is my prayer ! 
The consequences of longer delay will be more and 
more disastrous to the health of the troops. Captain 
Daly has not formally reassumed command of the 
Guides, though he virtually does all the sedentary 
work. By an arrangement which I cannot but think 
unwise, and which deprives the corps of two-thirds 
of its value, they have separated the regiment into 
two, putting the cavalry into the Cavalry Brigade 

s % 



260 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

under Hope Grant, and the infantry at the other end 
of the camp under Shebbeare, and Major E,eid of the 
Goorkhas, who commands all the posts and picquets 
on our right. 

The Guides should not be separated, and should be 
kept as much apart as may be from other corps. No 
regiment in the world have done or will do better 
than they, with a little prudence, and under an officer 
whom they like and can trust. My own regiment 
is also in the Cavalry Brigade, and is very hard 
worked. It is bad for a young and unformed corps, 
but there is such a scarcity of cavalry here, that I 
cannot even remonstrate, and I get no small amount 
of Kvdog for having so large a number of men fit to 
be put on duty within two months of receiving the 
order to raise a regiment. I shall have two more 
troops in with the 52nd, and Nicholson has given me 
■ fifty Afighans, just joined him from Peshawur, which, 
added to thirty coming with Alee Eeza Khan from 
Lahore, will complete an Affghan troop as a counter- 
poise to my Punjabees.''^ 

We expect the moveable column on the 12th or 
13th, weather permitting, and some other troops a 
day or two after. Sir P. Grant is supposed to be 
at Cawnpore, but we have no tidings later than 
Colonel Tytler^s letter. There is no actual fighting 
going on here, nothing except the usual cannonade. 
The rebels bring out guns on all sides, and fire away 
day and night, but bring no troops forward, and as 

* The uniform of ' Hodson's Horse' was a dust-coloured 
tunic, with a scarlet sash worn over the shoulder, and 
scarlet turban, which gained them the name of 'the 
Flamingos.' 



DISArFECTlON IN CITY. 261 

we act strictly on the defensive, we merely reply to 
their guns with ours. The whole affair is reduced to 
a combat of artillery, our leader's favourite arm, 
excellent when combined with the other two, but if 
he expects to get into Delhi with that alone, I guess he 
will find himself mistaken. The news of disaffection 
in the city is daily confirmed. On the 7th a powder 
manufactory exploded, and they suspended the 
minister, Hakeem Ahsanoolah, and searched his house ; 
there they found a letter which had been sent him, 
concocted by Moulvie Rujub Alee, which confirmed 
their suspicions, so they plundered and burnt his house, 
while he himself was only saved by taking refuge in 
the palace with the king, his master, who it seems is 
kept close prisoner there, his sons giving all orders, 
and ruling with a rod of iron. They say, however, 
that the king has got leave to send his wives and 
women out of the Ajmere gate to the Kootub. I trust 
it may be so, for we do not war with women, and 
should be sadly puzzled to know what to do with 
them as prisoners. 

August iitJi. — The bridge over the Jumna resists 
all efforts for its destruction. Our engineers have tried 
their worst, and failed. I have tried all that money 
could do, to the extent of 6000 rupees, but equally in 
vain. So there it remains for the benefit of the enemy, 
whose principal reinforcements come from that side 
of the city. Two messengers of my own, arrived 
from Lucknow, leave little hope of dear Sir Henry's 
life having been spared. I grieve as for a brother. 
. . . Talking of jealousies, one day, under a heavy 

fire. Captain came up to me, and begged 

me to forget and forgive what had passed, and only 



262 SIEGE or DELHI. 

to remember that we were soldiers fighting together 
in a common cause. As I was the injured party_, I 
could afford to do this. The time and place, as well 
as his manner, appealed to my better feelings, so I 
held out my hand at once. Nowadays, we must 
stand by and help each other, forget all injuries, and 
rise superior to them, or, God help us ! we should 
be in terrible plight. 

August iitJi. — This morning a force under Colonel 
Showers moved down before daybreak towards the 
city, or rather the gardens outside the city gates, and 
gave the enemy, who had been ensconced behind the 
garden walls for a couple of days, and given our 
pickets annoyance, a good thrashing, taking four of 
their guns, and inflicting a heavy loss. All were back 
in camp by 7 p.m., so it was a very comfortable 
little affair. Our fellows did admirably. Captain 
Greville captured one gun with a handful of men, 
getting slightly wounded in the act. Showers him- 
self. Coke, and young Owen, were also wounded, and 
poor young Sheriff of the and mortally so ; the loss 
among the men was small in proportion to the success. 
The return to camp was a scene worth witnessing, the 
soldiers bringing home in triumph the guns they had 
captured, a soldier with musket and bayonet fixed 
riding each horse, and brave young Owen astride one 
gun, and dozens clinging to and pushing it, or 
rather them, along with might and main, and cheering 
like mad things. I was in the thick of it by accident, 
for I was looking on as well as I could through the 
gloom, when Coke asked me to find Brigadier Showers 
and say he was wounded, and that the guns were 



BRINGING IN CAPTURED GUNS. 263 

taken. I found Showers himself -wounded, and then 
had to find a field ofiicer to take command, after which, 
I assisted generally in drawing ofi" the men — the 
withdrawal or retirement being the most difiicult 
matter always, and requiring as much steadiness as 
an attack. 

August I'^th. — I wish I could get some pay, but 
money is terribly scarce and living dear, my favourite 
beverage, tea, particularly so. I have therefore sent 
to Umbala for some. 

Ghoolab Singh^s death is unfortunate at this 
juncture, but I fancy we have too much to do just 
now to interfere with the succession ; we ought not 
to do so according to treaty, and if Jowahir Singh 
tries to recover the country from his cousin, Run- 
beer Singh, the king's son, why that is his afiair, 
not ours — though we should never be contented to 
let them fight it out and settle it themselves. Poor 
Light has been brought very low by dysentery, 
and can hardly crawl about, but about he persists in. 

going, brave fellow as he is. What a contrast to , 

who has got away, sick or pretending to be so, to 
the hills — anything to escape work. Greville is, I 
am thankM to say, not badly wounded, and as plucky 
as ever. All well at Agra : no news from below. 

August i^th. — On returning from a rather dis- 
heartening reconnaissance to-day, I found letters which 
soothed and comforted my weary spirit, just as a sud- 
deu gleam of sunlight brightens a gloomy landscape, 
and brings all sunsjunding objects into light and dis- 
tinctness- 

I am no croaker, but I confess sometimes it re- 
quires all one's trust in the God of battles, and all the 



264 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

comforting and sustaining words of those nearest and 
dearest to us, to bear up boldly and bravely through 
these weary days. A letter from good Douglas 
Seaton was among them. He little thought that so 
soon after his departure we should all be moving down- 
wards_, and that I should receive his letter in his 
brother's tent in ' Camp before Delhi •' his own dearly 
loved regiment"^ ' next door ' to us. How wonder- 
fully uncertain everything is in India. I am inter- 
rupted by orders to start to-night for K-ohtuck, and 
must go and make arrangements. 



1st European Bengal Fusiliers. 



CHAPTEE III. 

ROHTUCK EXPEDITION. 

BoHUR, NEAR RoHTUCK, August I>jth. 

I HAVE been unable to write since we left Delhi, as 
we have been incessantly marching, and had no 
means of communicating with any one. Even now I 
am doubtful whether this will reach camp. We 
left Delhi during the night of the 14th- 15th, and 
marched to Khurkundah, a large village, in which I 
had heard that a great number of the rascally Irregu- 
lars had taken refage. We surprised and attacked the 
village. A number of the enemy got into a house, 
and fought like devils j but we mastered them and 
slew the whole. Yesterday we marched on here, in- 
tending to reconnoitre and harass ' k la Cosaque ' a 
large party of horsemen and foot, with two guns, 
who have been moving along from Delhi, plundering 
the wretched villagers en route, and threatening to 
attack Hansie. They, however, thought discretion 
the better part of valour, and hearing of our approach, 
started off at a tangent before we got near enough 
to stop them. 

We have been drenched with rain, so I am halting 
to dry and feed both men and horses, and then we 
go on to Rohtuck. I have nearly 300 men and five 
oflScers — Ward, Wise, the two Goughs, and Macdowell, 
^ — all first-rate soldiers. I have eighty Guides, and 



266 SIEGE 0¥ DELHI. 

the rest my own men, who do wonderfully, consider- 
ing how sadly untrained and undisciplined they are. 
We are roughing it in more ways than one, and the 
sun is terribly hot, but we are all well and in high 
spirits, for though it is a bold game to play, I am too 
careful to run unnecessary risks, or get into a fix. I 
have done a good deal already, and shall, I hope, recover 
Eohtuck to-day, when I do trust the authorities will 
consent to keep it, and not let us have the work to 
do twice over, as at Bhagput. 



To Colonel Begheb, Quartermaster-General. 

My dear Colonel, — We are getting on very well. 
I hope to take Kohtuck to-day, and I trust arrange- 
ments will be made for keeping it. The country will 
then be quiet from Hansie to Delhi. The Jheend 
Rajah should be told to take care of the district. I 
believe Greathed did make this arrangement, but 
Barnes put some spoke in the way, so that the Rajah 
is uncertain how to act. Please tell G-reathed from 
me that there is nothing now to prevent the re- 
storation of order here. I wish I had a stronger party, 
for though I feel quite comfortable myself, yet I 
should like more troops, for the sake of the men, who 
are not quite so easy in their minds. The road by 
Alipore, Boanah, and Khurkundah is the best. The 
canal is easily fordable at Boanah, and just below that 
place (at the escape) it is quite dry, the banks having 
given way. We polished off the Khurkundah gentry 
in style, though they showed fight to a great extent. 



ROHTUCK EXPEDITION. 267 

It has had a wonderfully calming effect on the neigh- 
bourhood. I hope the Jheend troops^ or some troops, 
may be sent here. The Jheend men would more than 
suffice. — Yours very sincerely, 

W. S. R. HoDSON. 



Camp, Dusseeah, near Rohtuck, \()th August.— 
This is the first rest since Bohur ; we have had very 
hard work, great heat, and long exposure ; but, thank 
God, are all well and safe, and have done some 
business. I marched from Bohur on the evening 
of the 17th. On reaching Rohtuck, we found the 
Mussulman portion of the people, and a crowd of 
Irregulars, drawn up on the walls, while a considerable 
party were on a mound outside. I had ridden for- 
ward with Captain Ward and a few orderlies to see 
how the land lay, when the rascals fired, and ran 
towards us. I sent word for my cavalry to come up, 
and rode slowly back myself, in order to tempt them 
out, which had partly the desired effect, and as soon 
as my leading troop came up, we dashed at them and 
drove them helter-skelter into the town, killing all we 
overtook. We then encamped in what was the 
Kutcherry compound, and had a grateful rest and a 
quiet night. The representatives of the better disposed 
part of the population came out to me, and amply 
provided us with supplies for both man and beast. 
The rest were to have made their ' amende^ in the 
morning; but a disaffected Rangur went off early, 
and brought up 30G Irregular horsemen of the muti- 
neers — ist, 13th, 14th, and other rebels — and having 



268 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

collected about looo armed rascals on foot^ came out 
to attack my little party of barely 300 sabres and six 
officers. The Sowars dashed at a gallop up the road, 
and came boldly enough up to our camp. I had a few 
minutes before fortunately received notice of their 
intentions, and as I had kept the horses ready saddled, 
we were out and at them in a few seconds. To drive 
them scattering back to the town was the work of 
only as many more, and I then, seeing their numbers, 
and the quantity of matchlocks brought against us 
from gardens and embrasures, determined to draw 
them out into the open country ; and the ' ruse' was 
eminently successful. I had quietly sent off our little 
baggage unperceived, half an hour before, so that I 
was, as I intended, perfectly free and unfettered by 
imjiedimenta of any sort. I then quietly and gradually 
drew off troop after troop into the open plain about 
a mile to the rear, covering the movement with 
skirmishers. My men, new as well as old, behaved 
coolly and admirably throughout, though the fire was 
very annoying, and a retreat is always discouraging, 
even when you have an object in view. My officers, 
fortunately first-rate ones, behaved like veterans, and 
everything went on to my complete satisfaction. 
Exactly what I had anticipated happened. The enemy 
thought we were bolting, and came on in crowds, 
firing and yelling, and the Sowars brandishing their 
swords as if we were already in their hands, when 
suddenly I gave the order, ^Threes about, and at them.' 
The men obeyed with a cheer ; the effect was elec- 
trical; never was such a scatter. I launched five 
parties at them, each under an officer, and in they 
went, cutting and firing into the very thick of them. 



ROHTUCK EXPEDITION. 269 

The ground was very wet, and a ditch favoured them, 
but we cut down upwards of fifty in as many seconds. 
The remainder flew back to the town, as if, not the 
Guides and Hodson^s Horse, but death and the devil 
were at their heels. Their very numbers encumbered 
them, and the rout was most complete. Unfortu- 
nately I had no ammunition left, and therefore could 
not without imprudence remain so close to a town 
filled with matchlock men, so we marched quietly 
round to the north of the town, and encamped near 
the first friendly village we came to, which we reached 
in the early afternoon. Our success was so far com- 
plete, and I am most thankful to say with very 
trifling loss, only two men rather severely wounded, 
eight in all touched, and a few horses hit. Mac- 
dowell did admirably, as indeed did all. My new men, 
utterly untrained as they are, many unable to ride 
or even load their carbines properly, yet behaved 
beyond my most sanguine expectations for a first field, 
and this success, without loss, will encourage them 
greatly. 

This morning I was joined by a party of Jheend 
horse, whom my good friend the Rajah sent as soon 
as he heard I was coming E-ohtuck-wards, so I have 
now 400 horsemen, more or less, fresh ammunition 
having come in this morning, and am quite indepen- 
dent. I hear also that the General has at my recom- 
mendation sent out some troops in this direction ; if 
so, order will be permanently restored in this district. 
In three days we have frightened away and demora- 
lized a force of artillery, cavalry, and infantry some 3000 
strong, beat those who stood or returned to fight us, 
twice, in spite of numbers, and got fed and furnished 



270 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

forth by the rascally town itself.* Moreover, we have 
thoroughly cowed the whole neighbourhood, and given 
them a taste of what more they will get unless 
they keep quiet in future. We count eighty- 
five killed, and numbers wounded, since we left 
Delhi, which is one good result, even if there were no 
other. One of them was a brute of the 1 4th Irregular 
Cavalry, who committed such butchery at Jhansi. No 
letters have reached me since I left camp, and I am 
not sure that this will reach there safely. It is a 
terribly egotistical detail, and I am thoroughly 
ashamed of saying so much of myself, but you insisted 
on having a full, true, and particular account, so do 
not think me vainglorious. 

LuRSOWLiE, August 'X<ind. — I rode over to this place 
from our little camp at Souput, eight miles off, to see 
Saunders and Colonel Durnsford. I find that two of 
my new troops have been detained on the road, but 
will reach Delhi in a day or two, and others from 
Lahore will soon arrive. I think the business at 
Eohtuck has been very creditable to us, but I can 



* Extract from Letter 0/ Major-Geneeal Wilson. 

' The Major-Geueral commanding the force having 
' received from Lieut. Hodson a report of his proceedings 
' and operations from the 1 4th, when he left camp, till 
'his return on the 24th, has much pleasure in expressing 
' to that officer his thanks for the able manner in which 
' he carried out the instructions given him. The Major- 
* General's thanks are also due to the European and 
' native officers and men comj)osing the detachment, for 
' their steady and gallant behaviour throughout the opera- 
' tions, particularly on the 17th and i8th inst., at Rohtuck, 
' when they charged and dispersed large parties of horse 
' and foot.' 



ROHTUCK EXPEDITION. 271 

write no more than the assurance of our safety and 
well being. 

Camp, Souput, August zyd. — I could only write 
a few hurried lines yesterday. Late in the evening I 
got a note from General Wilson, desiring me to look 
out for and destroy the loth Light Cavalry mutineers 
from Ferozepoor. He authorized my proceeding to 
Jheend, but without going through the Eohtuck 
district. Now, as to do this would involve an 
immense detour, and ensure my being too late, and 
consequently having a long and fatiguing march for 
my pains, I wrote back to explain this, and requested 
more definite instructions. He must either say dis- 
tinctly ' do this or that,^ and I will do it ; or he 
must give me carte llancJie to do what he wants in 
the most practicable way, of which I, knowing the 
country, can best judge. I am not going to fag my 
men and horses to death, and then be told I have 
exceeded my instructions. He gives me immense 
credit for what I have done, but ' almost wishes I had 
not ventured so far.' The old gentleman means 
well, but does not understand either the country or 
the position I was in, nor does he appreciate a tenth- 
part of the efiects which our bold stroke at Rohtuck, 
forty-five miles from camp, has produced. 'N'impo7'te,' 
they will find it out sooner or later. I hear both 
Chamberlain and Nicholson took my view of the case, 
and supported me warmly. 

I am much gratified by General Johnstone's exer- 
tions in my favour, though I have not the slightest 
idea that they will eventuate in anything ; but the 
motive is the same. Let me do what I will, I have 
made up my mind to gain nothing but the approval 



272 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

of my own conscience. I foresee that I shall remain 
a subaltern, and the easy-going majors of brigade, 
aides-de-camp, and staff officers will all get brevets, 
C.B/s, &c., for simply living in camp, and doing their 
simple duties mildly and without exertion. The 
Victoria Cross, I confess, is the highest object of my 
ambition, and had I been one of fortune^s favourites 
I should have had it ere now even, but I have 
learnt experience in a rough school and am prepared 
for the worst ; but whether a lieutenant or lieu- 
tenant-general, I trust I shall continue to do my 
duty, to the best of my judgment and ability, as long 
as strength and sense are vouchsafed to me. 

Camp, Delhi, August Z/^th. — I returned here this 
morning at a p.m., very tired and unwell, and not able 
to write much, for I have been obliged to have recourse 
to the doctor. 

People have got an absurd story about my being 
shut up in a fort, without food or chance of escape ! 
The GeneraFs aide-de-camp tells me the old man 
believed this ridiculous report and was fairly frightened, 
getting no sleep for two nights. However, he fully 
admits the good service we have rendered, and every 
one is making a talk and fuss about it — as if success 
were uncommon ! I find strong hopes of our making 
an assault on the city as soon as the siege train 
arrives, which will be in about thirteen days. Have- 
lock seems unable or unwilling to move on, but we 
can hardly want him, for surely we shall have ample 
means for taking the city shortly. 

I am to have a surgeon attached to my regiment at 
once, as I represented how cruel it was to send us 
out on an expedition without a doctor or a grain of 



BATTLE OF NUJJUFGHUR, 273 

medicine. We had eight wounded men, and two 
officers had fever on the road^ and .nothing hut the 
most primitive means of relieving them. I asked for 
Dr. Charles, hut there are so many senior to him wait- 
ing for a turn, that I must he content for the present 
with what I can get. I hope, however, to have Charles 
ultimately, for he is skilful, clever, a gentleman, and 
a Christian. 

Nicholson has just gone out to look after a party 
of the enemy with twelve guns, who had moved out 
yesterday towards Nujjufghur, threatening to get into 
our rear. I wanted to have gone with him, hut I 
was laughingly told to stay at home and nurse myself, 
and let some one else have a chance of doing good 
service. This was too bad, especially as Nicholson 
wished me to go. 

2,6i/i.—lt is 4 P.M., and I am only just free from 
people and papers, but good news must make up for 
brevity. General Nicholson has beaten the enemy 
gloriously at Nujjufghur, whither he pushed on last 
evening. He has taken thirteen guns, and all the 
camp equipage and property. Our loss was small for 
the gain, but two of the killed were officers — young 
Lumsden of Coke's Corps, a most promising fellow, 
and Dr. Ireland. The victory is a great one, and 
will shake the Pandies' nerves, I calculate. All their 
shot and ammunition were also captured. The ist 
Fusiliers were as usual 'to the fore,' and did well 
equally as usual. I am much disappointed at not 
having been there, but Mactier would not hear of it, 
as the weather was bad, and I should have run the 
risk of another attack of dysentery, from which I 
had been suffering. I am half annoyed, half amused 

T 



274 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

at the absurd stories about the Rohtuck business. 
We were never in any extremity whatever, nor did 1 
ever feel the slightest anxiety, or cease to feel that I 
was master of the situation. Danger there must 
always be in war, but none of our own creating, as 
the fools and fearful said, ever existed ; would that 
folks would be contented with the truth and reality 
of our position, and not add to its desagremens by idle 
fears and false inventions. 

%']tJi. — I have been up to my eyes in work all day 
again, and not had the pen out of my hand all day, 
except when on horseback with the men. Two troops 
arrived yesterday, and I have 350 spare horses to 
mount them, so that we are getting on by degrees. 
Such an experiment as raising a regiment actually 
in camp on active (and very active) service, was never 
tried before. 

I most decidedly object and refuse to allow 

Mr. to publish any extracts whatever from 

my letters. I say nothing that I am ashamed of, 
nothing that is not strictly true, but my remarks on 
men and measures, however just, would make me 
many enemies, and my misfortunes have taught me, 
though I may not condescend to conciliate, at least to 
do nothing to offend. If, however, it will be any 
amusement to the loved ones at home to have some 
true sketches of this lamentable siege, and the 
progress in it of one dear to them, that is quite 
another affair, and I confess I should like to have 
some such references myself to look over hereafter. 

2MJ1. — I am somewhat surprised at not hearing 
from Agra, but I cannot be sure that my letter 
reached there, as several of the ' Cossids ' have been 



TERMS REFUSED. 275 

' scragj^ed ' on the road. Sir P. Grant will not have 
a long course to run, as Sir C Campbell has been sent 
out to command, and is in India, I fancy, by this time. 
Havelock, we hear, has retreated, leaving* Lucknow 
still unrelieved. I cannot understand this, but we 
have not sufficient information to enable us to judge. 
After all, Nicholson is the general after my heart. 

2^th. — I have just returned from a ride of twelve 
hours, leaving camp at three a.m., on a reconnoitring 
expedition, and have only time before the dak closes 
to say that I am safe and well. I found no enemy, 
and everything quiet in the direction of Nujjufghur, 
where I was to-day, over and beyond Nicholson^s 
field of battle of the 25 th. 

'^oth. — I have been writing and listening all this 
morning till I am tired, a man having come in from 
Delhi, with much assurance and great promises ; but 
he was sent back rather humbler than he came, for 
he fancied he should make terms, and could not get a 
single promise of even bare life for any one, from the 
king downwards. If I get into the palace, the house 
of Timur will not be worth five minutes^ purchase, I 
ween ; but what my share in this work will be, no one 
can say, as there will be little work for horsemen, 
and I do not novy command any infantry to give me 
an excuse. I hope Sir C. Campbell will be here to 
lead us into the city, which seems probable at our 
present rate of no-progress. He is a very good man for 
the post of Commander-in-Chief, as he has had great 
experience in India and elsewhere, and that, recent 
experience. Mansfield comes out with him as chief 
of the staff", with the rank of Major-Gene ral. 

315^. — I have little public news for you : all is 

T % 



276 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

expected here. The siege train will be in by the 3rd 
or 4thj I fancy, and then I trust there will be no more 
waiting. 

The letters from. Agra show that a much greater 
and more formidable amount of insurrection exists, 
than we were prepared to believe. Large bodies of 
insurgents have collected in different places all over 
the country, all well supplied with arms and guns. 
These are under the orders of different Nawabs, 
Rajahs, and big men, who tbink that now is their 
time for rule. None of these will be formidable as 
soon as the army is disposed of, but for a long time 
to come we shall have marching and fighting, 
punishing and dispersing, and it is to be expected 
that bodies of the fugitives from Delhi will join the 
standards of these insurgent leaders, and give us trouble 
here and there. The fall of Delhi will not be the 
end, but rather the beginning of a new campaign in 
the field ; but the very day tbe active portion of the 
work is over, I shall ask to go to some good station, 
and organize and discipline my regiment, and get it 
properly equipped, and fit for service. At present it 
is merely an aggregation of untutored horsemen, 
ill-equipped, half clothed, badly provided with 
everything, quite unfit for service jn the usual sense 
of tbe term, and only forced into the field because I 
have willed that it shall be so ; but it would take six 
montbs' constant work to fit it properly for service. 
Generally when a regiment is raised, it is left quietly 
at one station until the commanding ofiicer reports 
it ' fit for service,^ and it has been inspected and 
reproved upon by a general officer, when it is brought 
' on duty,^ by order of the Commander-in-Chief. My 



RAISING REGIMENT ON SERVICE. 277 

idea of being able to raise a regiment when in the 
field, and on actual, and very active service, was 
ridiculed and pooh-poohed, but I stuck to it that it 
could be done, and General Anson was only too 
willing I should try, hitherto with success, and with 
the considerable gain, to an army deficient in cavalry, 
of having a good body of horsemen brought at once on 
duty in the field. How long it may be before I 
am able to get to a quiet station for the purpose 
required it is impossible to foresee. I shall try to 
get sent to Umbala, or as near the Punjab 'as possible, 
because my men are all drawn from thence, and it 
wiU be easier to recruit, than at a greater distance 
from. Sikhland. I have got six full troops, and 
another is on its way down. 

September isf. — This is muster-day, and a very 
busy one to me, but I have written a minute letter 
to go by Kossid to Agra once more. The poor wretch 
who took my last was murdered on the road, so of 
course the letter never reached Agra. The dak by 
Meerut is again suspended, so we can only send by 
Kossid. I have to-day got a new subaltern, a Mr. 
Baker, of the late 6oth Native Infantry, and a doctor, 
so we are seven in all. I could not succeed in getting 
Dr. Charles just yet, but hope to do so eventually. 
Little Musrub Jung has been allowed to come to me 
from the Guides, and I have made him a jemadar at 
once. . It is astonishing how well he reads and 
remembers English. The Testament you gave him 
is his constant companion, he tells me, and he is as 
interested as ever in the history of ' our wonderful 
prophet.' The Persians are certainly a very intelli- 
gent race, this one particularly so, and the seeds you 



278 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

have sown will surely bring forth fruit to his eternal 
benefit hereafter. More than half the Guides want 
to come to my new corps^ but this is of course out of 
the question. I am sending for Heratees^ and 
Candaharees, the farther from Hindoostan the better. 
Mr. Ricketts, too, is collecting men from his district. 
I have at present 300 spare horses_, but as I am to 
raise 1200 or 1400 men, I fear mounting them will 
be a difficulty ; it is very difficult to work in a camp on 
service where so little can be got or bought. Here 
come more news-letters from the city, and myriads 
of notes, besides post time and parade, all at once ! 
I shall be glad when Delhi falls, and I cease to be 
Times, Morning Chronicle, and Post, all in one ! ^ 

171(1. — . . . ^Hodson's Horse' made a very respectable 
show indeed last evening, when paraded altogether 
for the first time, and I was much complimented on 
my success ; there are some in the last batch from 
Lahore whom I shall ultimately get rid of, wild low- 
caste fellows, and they did not behave very well the 
other day at the K-avee with Nicholson ; but taken 
altogether, I am very well satisfied, and trust they 
will eventually turn out well, and do credit to the 
hard work I have with them. Colonel Seaton is 
better — i.e., his wound is healed — but he sufiers much 
pain from the tender state of the scarce united 
muscles when he moves. The weather is very trying 
just now, and very unhealthy. Poor Macdowell is 
unwell, and I fear he will have to *go away sick ; he is 
far from strong, which is his only fault, poor boy. I 



* Referring to his charge of the Intelligence Depart- 
ment. 



SICKNESS IN CAMP. 279 

like him increasingly, he is a thorough gentleman. 
For myself, I am wonderfully well, that is, as well as 
m.ost in camp, though somewhat pulled down by 
heat, fatigue, and dysentery, and I am literally one of 
the ' lean kine/ All is quite quiet here ; only a few 
occasional shots from the batteries. The Pandies 
are quarrelling among themselves, and are without 
money ; they cannot hold together much longer, and 
I fear will break up if we do not speedily take the 
place. Only a chosen band (!) will rally round the 
king, who after all is but a name, for his villanous 
sons are the real leaders. The train is to be here to- 
morrow or next day, and 56 guns are to open on the 
"walls at once. We hear that Captain Peel of Crimean 
celebrity is on his way up to Allahabad, with a naval 
brigade and some sixty-eight pounders from his ship 
the Shannon, Glorious, this. Surely with the brave 
little army which has withstood all (and none but 
ourselves can know what that ' all ' comprises) the 
trials of these last months, and our own brave ' tars,^ 
we shall speedily conquer this rebellious city, and 
make the last of the house of Timur ' eat dirt;.^ 

September ^fi'd. — Nothing is going on here of public 
importance, and everything is stagnant,, save the 
hand of the destroying angel of sickness; we have 
at this moment 2500 in hospital, of whom iioo are 
Europeans, out of a total of 5000 men (Europeans), 
and yet our General waits and waits for this and 
that arrival, forgetful that each succeeding day dimi- 
nishes his force by more than the strength of the 
expected driblets. He talks now of awaiting the 
arrival of three weak regiments of Ghoolab Singh's 
force under Richard Lawrence, who are marching 



280 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

from Umb^la. Before they arrive, if the General 
really does wait for them, we shall have an equivalent 
to their numbers sickened and dying from the delay 
in this plague spot. 'Delhi in September' is pro- 
verbial, and this year we seem likely to realize its 
full horrors. The train will be here to-morrow or 
next day, and I hope our General will not lose a day 
after that. He is a good artillery officer, with an 
undue estimate of his own arm of the service. He 
seems to realize the old saying, that officers of a 
'special arm,' such as artillery and engineers, do 
not make generals. Wilson, for instance, looks upon 
guns as engines capable mathematically of perform- 
ing perfect results, and acts as cautiously as if in 
practice such results were ever attained by Asiatic gun- 
ners, forgetting all our glorious Indian annals, all 
the experience of a British army, and hesitating 
before an Indian foe ! I never hear these old gentle- 
men talk without thinking of Sir Charles Napier's 
remarks on the Duke's comments on 'Colonel Monson's 
retreat,' and the heroic way in which he had read and 
profited by the lesson. 

As to the extracts from my letters which Mr. B 

has asked ^or, I must decidedly refuse ; even supposing 
them to be of the importance which he professes to 
consider them, there is a vast distinction between 
my publishing, or allowing to be published, my 
letters, and letting my friends read or make use of 
them. I am perfectly at liberty to write and speak 
freely to my friends, and they may show such parts 
of my letters as they think fit to men in power and 
in Parliament; and these may again make use, in 
debate or in council, of knowledge thus gained, 



OBJECTIONS TO PUBLISHING. 281 

and details thus imparted, which would be otherwise 
beyond their reach. All this is right, fair, and of 
everyday" occurrence; but I myself, as a military 
oflEicer, have no right to publish, or permit to be 
published, comments written in the freedom of pri- 
vate correspondence on my superiors, their acts, and 
proceedings. 

I have not the smallest objection to any of our 
friends seeing my written opinions, provided they 
know them to be extracted from private letters, and 
never intended for publication. I have no objection 
to Lord William Hay sending a copy, if he chooses, to 
Lord Dalhousie, or Lord Ellenborough himself even ; 
but I cannot give permission to any one to publish 
what would be so injurious to my interests. You will 
think I have grown strangely worldly-wise ; but have 
I not had bitter experience ? 

September \th, — There is nothing to tell of public 
news, and even if there were I have no time to tell 
it, for I am very busy and hard worked, and only too 
thankful to get a few minutes to say I am safe and 
well. I have never written of public matters except 
as regarded myself. As to the stories about me at 
Uohtuck, the papers have repeatedly published the 
true as well as the false version of the tale — even the 
Lahore Chronicle got it pretty correctly ; and after 
all, it is of very little consequence what the papers 
say as long as the correct version goes to Govern- 
ment and my friends. I sincerely trust we shall be 
in Delhi before the 15th. 

September ^th. — Poor Macdowell has had a bad 
attack of fever, which has brought him very low. He 
will have to go to the hills, I very much fear. The 



282 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

• 

amount of sickness is terrible ; we have 2500 men 
in hospital, and numbers of officers besides. Another 
of the 6Tst_, Mr. Tyler, died of cholera to-day. I 
would give a great deal to get away, if but for a 
week, but I must go where I can do most towards 
avenging the past, and securing our common safety 
for the future. No arrangements are making for 
any movements after the capture of Delhi ; we sadly 
want a head over us. 

September 6th. — To-night I believe the engineers 
are really to begin work constructing batteries, so 
that in two or three days Delhi ought to be taken. 
If General Wilson delays now, he will have nothing 
left to take ; all the Sepoys will be off to their 
homes, or into Rohilcund, or into Gwalior. News 
from Cawnpore to 25th August has been received. 
Up to that date Lucknow was safe, but with only 
fifteen days' provisions left; and apparently no 
vigorous measures being taken to relieve the place. 
Havelock has not enough men, he says ; and report 
adds that the Governor-General has forbidden other 
regiments to move on, wishing to keep them at 
Benares to cover Calcutta. This appears incredible. 
The Sepoys in Delhi are in hourly expectation of 
our attack, and the cavalry keep their horses saddled 
night and day, ready to bolt at a moment's notice — so 
say the news-letters. I suspect that, the moment 
we make an attack in earnest, the rebel force will 
disappear. Of public news I have none beyond this, 
and I am still, like every one else, in the dark as to 
what we do after Delhi is taken, or where and when 
we go. If the campaign lasts very long I shall be 
forced to go home next year, for even my health will 



HOME. 283 

not stand against many more months of wear and 
tear like the last. Yet who can say what even a day 
may bring forth, or can venture to make plans for a 
future year, after the experiences of the last. God^s 
merciful providence has hitherto preserved me most 
wonderfully from myriads of no common dangers, 
and I humbly pray that I may be spared to see my 
home, and those who make home so dear, once more. 
Home, altered and bereaved as it is since I left it, 
still holds the precious sisters and brothers of the 
past, and the bright new generation with whom I 
long to make acquaintance. 

Sejjtember ^tli. — News has just been received up to 
the 27 th from Cawnpore : the garrison in Lucknow 
had been attacked by the enemy in vast numbers, 
headed by a lot of ' Ghazees.' They were repulsed 
with such severe loss that the enemy would not 
venture to try that game again, were the siege to be 
protracted for two years ; they say 150 Ghazees, and 
between 400 and 500 Sepoys were killed. Colonel 
Otter was appointed commandant of Allahabad, at 
which I rejoice, for he will ' come out strong' when- 
ever he has a chance. One of our batteries was armed 
{i.e. guns put into it) last night, and the bigger one 
will be made to-night ■; so that by the 9th I trust 
Delhi will be ours. 

Bejitemher ^th. — To-day, two new batteries, con- 
structed during the night for tbe heavy guns, opened 
on the walls and bastions of the city, and the can- 
nonade on both sides has been very heavy ; to-morrow 
other batteries will be ready, and on the following 
day fifty guns, I trust, will be at work on the doomed 
city. Very little loss was experienced during the 



284 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

night, only two men being hit ; and the casualties 
to-day have been surprisingly few. I cannot believe 
there will be any serious resistance when once the 
enemy's guns are silenced. There is at present 
nothing to lead one to suppose that the enemy have 
any intention of fighting it out in the city, after we 
have entered the breach. All, I fancy, who can, will 
be off as soon as we are within the walls. The 
General has not decided yet on the operations which 
are to succeed Delhi; he says he shall send a strong 
column in pursuit, which I hope will be under 
Nicholson, but he has not settled who is to go, or 
who to stay. I trust I may be among the pursuers. 
I am constantly interrupted by business, and the 
necessity of watching the enemy, lest any attempt 
should be made to turn our flank while we are busied 
with the batteries in front. For myself, I am not 
necessarily much exposed to fire, except every now 
and then ; I never run into danger unless obliged 
to do so for some rightful purpose, and where duty 
and honour call. 

Sept. gtA. — . . . To descend to life's hard struggle ; 
our guns are blazing away, but only in partial 
numbers as yet, the work having been necessarily 
distributed over two nights instead of one. The 
garrison at Lucknow is all well, and likely to con- 
tinue so, for they have plenty of wheat, though no 
European supplies. However, British soldiers have 
worked and fought on bread and water ere now, and 
will do it again : and I have no doubt the gallant 
32nd will keep up their spirit and their fame. Re- 
inforcements were reaching Cawnpore, and Sir J. 
Outram was on his way up with 1500 more soldiers 



TRENCHES. 285 

and some artillery. Cholera, their worst enemy, had 
disappeared, and their communication with Cal- 
cutta was quite open. Sir Colin had reached Calcutta, 
and taken command of the army. I do hope he will 
come up country at once, and Colonel Napier with 
him. Poor Alfred Light, after five weeks^ severe 
illness, leaves to-night for the hills, to save his life. 
Hay has been written to, to take him in ; if he cannot, 
I am sure you will do so. Poor fellow ! I have a 
real regard for him, and it is a terrible disappointment 
that he cannot be at the actual taking of Delhi, 
having been so long before the walls. Sickness is 
terribly on the increase, and Wilson talks of getting 
into Delhi on the aist. If the sickness does increase 
he wont have a sound man left by the aist. 

I was up till 3 A.M. in the trenches, examining the 
work, and helping what little I could,* and almost 
ever since I have been on horseback, and a terrible 
hot day it has been in all ways. Some of the enemy's 
horse came out and began to poach on our preserves, 
and I had to go after them ; they are such essential 
cowards that it is impossible to bring them to a 
regular fight ; they will not come from within reach 
of their shelter, running off at once to cover, where 
it would be madness to go after them. The new 
batteries did not begin to-day, after all ; they were not 
quite ready, and the engineers would not let them 
open fire. ... I am very much pleased with 



* An artillery officer told me of my brother, that even 
when he might have taken rest he would not ; but 
instead, would go and help work at the batteries, and 
exposed himself constantly in order to relieve some faint- 
ing gunner or wounded man. — Ed. 



286 SIEGE OF DELHI. 



-'s letter, and rejoice that he is out on an ex- 



pedition : the change of air will do him good after 
that frightful cholera. His story* of the soldier might 
be matched by many a rough compliment I get from 
the men of the ist Fusiliers ; the most genuine per- 
haps, certainly the most grateful to my feelings, of 
any I receive; a soldier is generally the best and 
shrewdest judge of an officer's qualifications. 

September nth. — There is no public news, except 
that the batteries are working away at the walls j but 
our engineers have failed terribly in their estimate of 
the time required for the works, and all the batteries 
are even yet not finished. It is now, however, only a 
question of days, one or two more or less, and Delhi 
must be ours. I shall be very thankful to get away 
from here. I look upon this as the very worst climate 
I have ever been in, and another month would make 
us all ill. Another of my officers. Captain Ward, is 
very ill, and two more are ailing. Macdowell, I am 
thankful to say, is a little better. The natives too 
are very sick, and a large number are in hospital ; in 
short, we want to be in Delhi. 

September \ith. — I was interrupted in.the midst of 
my pen-work this morning by an alarm (which proved 
to be a false one) of an attack of cavalry on our rear. 



* The story referred to was told by an officer : visiting 
the sick in hospital in the fort at Agra, he asked a man 
severely wounded whether he could do anything for him, 
' Oh yes, sir,' was the answer, ' if you would be so good 
' as read xis anything in the papers about that Captain 
' Hodson ; he's always doing something to make us proud 
' of our country, and of belonging to the same service as 
' that noble fellow ; it makes one forget the pain.' 



ASSAULT. 287 

it turned us all out, and kept me in the saddle till 
now, 5 P.M., so I can only say I am safe and unhurt. 
I trust in three days Delhi will be ours. I fancy my 
share in the assault will be one of duty rather than 
of danger. The cavalry have but small work on these 
occasions. I cannot yet tell what will occur after the 
capture. I fancy a column under Nicholson will be 
pushed on to Agra or Cawnpore, and I hope my regi- 
ment will be of the party. 

September i-^th. — I find I am to accompany Nichol- 
son's column at his own request, but where we are 
to go is unknown ; whether in pursuit of the rebels 
who are fast evacuating Delhi, or towards Agra, we 
know not ; Nicholson strongly urges the former. I 
am very glad for my own sake that I am to go on, 
for this place is dreadfully unhealthy, and I feel that 
I shall certainly be ill if I remain here much longer. 
In fact, I had made up my mind not to remain if 
possible, and when Nicholson urged my going on 
with him I was only too ready to second the motion, 
for I am able to work and to fight, and I must do so 
as long as I can. Some of the Gwalior troops have 
crossed the Chumbul river, and are supposed to be 
threatening Agra. However, the fall of Delhi will 
make every difierence in their proceedings, and show 
them that we can do something, though so late ; we 
are looking forward to a little ^ active service ' to- 
morrow : may God grant success to our arms, and 
safety to our brave band as much as may be. 

Septemher i^t/i. — I was totally unable to leave the 
field yesterday until dark, and long after post-time, 
but I ascertained that a telegraphic message was sent 
to Simla. I sent one up as soon as possible, for trans- 



288 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

mission to you through Lord W. Hay, but Colonel 
Becher had forestalled me. . . . The breaches 
made by our Artillery were successfully stormed early 
in the morning, with but little loss then ; our loss sub- 
sequently, however, I grieve to say, was most distress- 
ing, and that, in attempting unsuccessfully the 
capture of the Puhareepore and Kishengunge suburbs. 
The whole extent of our loss is not yet known, but 
that already ascertained is grievous to a degree. First, 
poor Nicholson most dangerously wounded, at a time, 
too, when his services were beyond expression valu- 
able.* The 1st European Bengal Fusiliers was the 



* The following account of the assault by an officer of 
the ist European Bengal Fusiliers will supply many par- 
ticulars of interest. 

* At 2 o'clock A.M. we formed in front of our camp 250 
' strong, and marched down to Ludlow Castle, which we 
' reached about daybreak. There we paused some time 
' to receive our ladders, and advanced at sunrise to the 
' assault. Every man felt this day would repay him for 
' four months of hard knocks, and that we shovild give 
' the murderous ruffians a wholesome lesson, and teach 
' them that a hand to hand struggle with armed men was 
' quite another affair to one with defenceless women 
' and children. We cross the glacis, the fire is hot ; 

* descend and reascend the ditch, mount the berm and 
' escalade. Hark ! what noise is that 1 not the Sepoy's 
' war-cry " Bum, Bum ram, ram, Oh King " for which 

* you are intently listening ; but the wild, thrilling cheer 
' of the British, which announces to friend and foe that 
' the ramparts are won. We descend and meet in the 
' Cashmere Bastion, and are astonished at our rapid 

* success. A general shaking of hands takes place. " Oh, 

* General, is that you ?" " Paddy, my boy, how are you 1" 
' these and such like greetings take place, whilst the diffe- 
' rent regiments form. We moved out rapidly and 

* stormed the church and adjacent buildings, and killed a 
' number of Sepoys as they retreated from the Water 



THE ASSAULT. 289 

most tried, and suffered out of all proportion, save in 
the especial case of the Engineers, of whom ten, out of 
the seventeen engaged, have been killed or wounded. 
Chesney and Hovenden among the latter, though not 

badly. Of the Eusiliers, poor Jacob was mortally 

» 

' Bastion. After this, we proceeded round the ramparts 
' to our right without very much opposition, and halted 
' at the Cabul Gate for some time ; again the word was 
' forward, and in leading on the men, my glorious friend 
' George Jacob was mortally wounded ; he, poor fellow 
' was shot in the thigh, and died that night. As he lay 
' writhing in his agony On the ground, unable to stand, 
' two or three men went to take him to the rear, but a 

* sense of duty was superior to bodily pain, and he refused 

* their aid, desiring them to go on and take the gims. 
' Twice did the enemy repulse us from this strong position, 

* our third attempt was successful, but two guns hardly 
' repaid us for our loss.' " Serjeant Jordan," I said, 
' " spike that gun on the rampart. " I can't, sir, I've no 
' spikes." " Then take a ramrod, break it in, and throw 
' it down to me j" and I spiked the other gun in the same 

* way. The enemy eventually retook this position, but 

' found only useless guns. A little in advance, the enemy < j«. 
' had a gun and bullet-proof breastwork, behind which 
' they fired on us with impunity. This was on the 
' rampart and we were in a narrow lane about twelve feet 
' below, where not more than four men could go abreast. 
' In one charge, Nicholson, our best and bravest, was 
' struck down. Speke, gentle everywhere but in the field, 

* was mortally wounded, and I, in reforming the regi- 
' ment for a renewed attempt, was shot through the right 

* shoulder, which will prevent my being bumptious for 
' some time ; out of our small party, seven officers and 

* many, very many men had fallen. It was felt to be 
' madness to continue the struggle where the enemy had 
' all the advantage, and the troops were withdi'awn to the 

* Cabul Gate, but the British and Sikh soldiers had done 

* their work, they had opened the road for our unrivalled 

* artillery to bring in their guns, and in six days they 

* cleared the city with very trifling loss on our side.' 

U 



290 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

wounded, since dead, T grieve to say : Greville, badly ; 
Owen, severely; Wemyss and Lambert, slightly; 
Butler, knocked down and stunned ; F. Brown and 
Warner, both grazed. Of officers attached to the regi- 
ment. Captain Mac Barnett was killed ; Stafford, 
wounded ; Speke, mortally so ; what a frightful list. 
Besides this. Captain Boisragon was wounded badly, 
with the Kumaon battalion ; so that of the officers of 
the 1st Fusiliers engaged yesterday, only Wriford, Wal- 
lace, and myself escaped untouched. My preservation 
(I do not like the word, escape) was miraculous. For 
more than two hours we had to sit on our horses 
under the heaviest fire troops are often exposed to, 
and that too, without the chance of doing anything 
but preventing the enemy coming on. Brigadier 
Hope Grant commanded, and while I doubt his judg- 
ment in taking cavalry into such a position, I admit 
that it was impossible for any man to take troops 
under a hotter fire, keep them there more steadily, 
or exhibit a more cool and determined bravery than 
he did. My young regiment behaved admirably, as 
did all hands. The loss of the party was of course 
very severe. Of Tombs' troop alone, twenty-five men 
(out of fifty) and seventeen horses were hit. The 
brigadier and four officers composing his staff all had 
their horses killed, and two of the five were wounded. 
The brigadier himself was hit by a spent shot ; Tombs 
escaped, I am delighted to say, from a similar spent 
ball. Our success on the whole was hardly what it 
should have been, considering the sacrifice, but the 
great end of getting into Delhi was attained. About 
one-third of the city is in our power, and the re- 
mainder will shortly follow, but that third has cost 



macdowell's letter. 291 

us between 5oo and 700 killed and wounded.''^ I am 
most humbly and heartily grateful to a merciful 
Providence that I was spared. May the God of battles 
continue His gracious protection to the end, and en- 
able me once more to be re-united to all most precious 
to me on earth. 

Letter from Lieutenant Macdowell, 2nd in command 
HodsoTbS Horse. 

* Delhi. 
'On the night of the 13th September, final prepa- 
' rations were made for the assault on the city, 
' Brigadiers and commanding officers (our little army 
' boasts of no generals of divisions) were summoned 
' to the general's tent, and then received their instruc- 
' tions. At I o'clock a.m. on the 14th, the men all turned 
' out silently, no bugles or trumpets sounding, and 
' moved down in silence to the trenches. The 
' batteries all this time kept up an unceasing fire on 
' the city, which responded to it as usual. On arriving 
' at the trenches the troops lay down, awaiting the 
' signal, which was to be given at daybreak, and which 
' was to be the blowing in of the Cashmere Gate, 
' towards which a party of engineers and sappers 
' moved ofi" at about 3 a.m. The assault was to be 

* made in three columns ; the first was to blow open 
' the Cashmere Gate, the second to escalade the Water 
' Bastion, and the third to escalade the Moree Bastion, 
' both of which had been pronounced practicable. As 
' I was with the cavalry all the time, I saw nothing of 

* the storming, but it is sufficient to say it succeeded 
' on every point, and by 8 a.m. we were inside the 
' walls, and held all their outworks. 



* d^ officers, 1 1 04 uien, was the official return. 

u 2 



292 SIEGE or DELHI. 

' Now began the difficulty^ as from the small force 
' we had, it was very hard work to drive a large body 
' of men out of such a city as Delhi. It took four 
' days to accomplishj but at length, on the morning 
* of the aoth, the flag of old England floated grace- 
' fully out over the palace of the Great Mogul. And 
' now for what we (the cavalry) did. At 3 a.m.''^ we 
' moved down in column of squadrons to the rear of 
' our batteries, and waited there till about 5 a.m., when 
' the enemy advanced from the Lahore Gate with two 
' troops of artillery, no end of cavalry, and a lot of 
' infantry apparently to our front. I think they 
' intended to try and take our old position now that we 
' had got theirs. In an instant horse artillery and 
' cavalry were ordered to the front, and we went 
' there at the gallop, bang through our own batteries, 
' the gunners cheering us as we leapt over the sand- 
' bags, &c., and halted under the Moree Bastion, under 
' as heavy a fire of round shot, grape, and canister, as 
' I have ever been under in my life. Our artillery 
' dashed to the front, unlimbered, and opened upon 
' the enemy, and at it they both went " hammer and 
' tongs." Now you must understand we had no 
' infantry with us. All the infantry were fighting in 
' the city. They sent out large bodies of infantry and 
^ cavalry against us, and then began the fire of 
^ musketry. It was tremendous. There we were (9th 
' Lancers, ist, and, 4th Sikhs, Guide Cavalry, and 
' Hodson^s Horse) protecting the artillery, who were 
' threatened by their infantry and cavalry. And fancy 
' what a pleasant position we were in, under this , 



* On the 1 6th. 



CAVALRY UNDER FIRE. 293 

' infernal fire, and never returning a shot. Our 
' artillery blazed away, of course, but we had to sit in 
' our saddles and be knocked over. However, I am 
' happy to say we saved the. guns. The front we 
' kept was so steady as to keep them back until some 
' of the Guide infantry came down and went at them. 
' I have been in a good many fights now, but always 
' under such, a heavy fire as this was with my own 
' regiment, and then there is always excitement, cheer- 
' ing on your men, who are replying to the enemy^s 
' fire ; but here we were in front of a lot of gardens 
' perfectly impracticable for cavalry, under a fire of 
' musketry wbicb I have seldom seen equalled, the 
' enemy quite concealed, and here we had to sit for 
' three hours. Had we retired, they would at once 
' have taken our guns. Had the guns retired with 
' us, we should have lost the position. No infantry 
' could be spared to assist us, so we had to sit there. 
' Men and horses were knocked over every minute. 
' We sufiered terribly. With my usual good luck I 
' was never touched. Well, all things must have an 
* end. Some infantry came down and cleared the 
' gardens in our front, and as their cavalry never 
' showed, and we had no opportunity of charging, we 
' fell back, and (the fire being over in that quarter) 
' halted and dismounted.* All this time hard fiffht- 



* One of the officers present on this occasion, speaking 

of it in a letter to his wife, says, ' I found time, how- 

' ever, for admiration of Hodson, who sat like a man 

' carved in stone, and as calm and apparently as uncon- 

' earned as the sentries at the Horse Guards, and only by 

his eyes and his ready hand, whenever occasion offered, 

could you have told that he was in deadly perd., and the 

balls flying amongst us as thick as hail.' 



294 SIEGE or DELHI. 

' ing was going on in the city. The next day, and 
' up to the morning of the 19th, we did nothing (I am 
' now speaking exclusively of the cavalry brigade) but 
* form in line on the top of the ridge, ready to pursue 
' the enemy should they turn out of the city in force/* 



Sejitember 16th. — I have just returned from a very 
long and terribly hot ride of some hours to ascertain 
the movements, position, and line of retreat of the 
enemy, and I can do no more than report my safety. 
I grieve much for poor Major Jacob, we buried him 
and three Serjeants of the regiment last night; he was 
a noble soldier. His death has made me a captain, 
the long-wished-for goal; but I would rather have 
served on as a subaltern than gained promotion thus. 
Greville and Owen are doing well, but I much fear 
there is no hope for poor Nicholson ; his is a cruel 
wound, and his loss would be a material calamity. 
You may count our real officers .on your fingers now — 
men, I mean, really worthy the name. General 
Wilson is fairly broken down by fatigue and anxiety, 
he cannot stand on his legs to-day; fortunately, 
Chamberlain is well enough to go down and keep him 
straight ; and Colonel Seaton also — two good men, if 
he will be led by them. All is going on well ; the 



* Extract from the Despatch of Brigadier Hope Grant, 

Coinmanding Cavalry Divisiwi. 

'Head Quarters, Delhi, Sept. iph, 1857. 
' The behaviour of the Native Cavahy was also admi- 
' rable. Nothing could be steadier, nothing more soldier- 

* like, than their beai-ing. Lieutenant Hodson com- 

* manded a corps raised by himself, and he is a jBrst-rate 
' officer, brave, determined, and clear-headed.' 



PROGRESS TN CITY. 295 

magazine was carried by storm this morning, with 
nominal loss, and our guns are knocking the fort and 
palace about. All the suburbs have been evacuated or 
taken. I have just ridden through them, and all the 
enemy's heavy guns have been brought into camp. 
In forty-eight hours the whole city, I think, with its 
seven miles of enceinte, will be ours : our loss has been 
very heavy, 46 officers killed and wounded, 300 men 
killed, and 700 or 800 wounded. 

September i^tJi. — All is going on well, though 
slowly; the Sepoys still occupy a portion of the city, 
and are being gradually driven backwards, while the 
palace and fort are continually played upon by shell 
and shot ; not above 3000 or 4000 of the rebel troops 
remain in the city. Head-quarters are there, and I 
am going down immediately to take up my quarters 
with the staff. I expect to-morrow will see the last 
of it, but there is no calculating with anything like 
certainty on the proceedings of these unreasoning 
wretches. I am thankful to say Nicholson is a little 
better to-day, and there appears some hope of his re- 
covery, though a very slight one. Mr. Colvin is dead : 
another celebrity taken away in this time of trial. 
The home mail of the loth of August has arrived, 
but brought no letters for me as yet, but very few 
have arrived in all. The Government at home seem 
at last awaking to a sense of the importance of this 
crisis in Indian affairs. 

September \Mh. — There is nothing worth speaking 
of doing here. We are still shelling the fort and palace, 
but as slowly, alas, as possible. I am writing in great 
haste, in order to go down and see my ' intelligence * 
people. Some of the enemy ai-e trying negotiation. 



296 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

I only hope they may find it is too late, and that 
we may pursue and destroy the wretches whom we 
have to thank for so much barbaritj^ and bloodshed. 

September n^th. — We are making slow progress in 
the city. The fact is, the troops are utterly demora- 
lized by hard work and hard drink, I grieve to say. 
For the first time in my life, I have had to see English 
soldiers refuse repeatedly to follow their officers. 
Greville, Jacob, Nicholson, and Speke were all 
sacrificed to this. We were out with all the cavalry 
this morning on a reconnaissance, or rather demon- 
stration, for some miles, and got a wetting for our 
pains ; however, rain at this season is too grateful to 
be complained of. 

September loth. — I have been much shocked (even 
familiar as I have become with death) by poor 
Greathed's* sudden death yesterday from cholera ; the 
strongest and healthiest man in camp snatched away 
after a few hours^ illness. Sir T. Metcalfe also is very 
ill with the same cruel disease : what a harvest of 
death there has been during the past four months, as 
if war was not sufficiently full of horrors. The rebels 
have fled from the city in thousands, and it is all but 
empty ; only the palace is still occupied, and that we 
hope to get hold of immediately, and so this horribly 
protracted siege will be at an end at last, thank God. 
None but those who fought through the first six weeks 
of the campaign know on what a thread our lives and 
the safety of the Empire hung, or can appreciate the 
sufferings and exertions of those days of watchfulness 
and combat, of fearful heat and exhaustion, of trial 

* Hervey H. Greathed, Commissioner and Political 
Agent. 



CAPTURE OF DELHI. 297 

and danger. I look back on them with a feeling of 
almost doubt whether they were real or only a foul 
dream. This day will be a memorable one in the 
annals of the Empire, the restoration of British rule 
in the East dates from the aoth September, 1857. 

In- THE K-OYAL VaJjACb, Delhi, September 22,nd. — 
I was quite unable to write yesterday, having had a 
hard day's work. I was fortunate enough to eapture 
the King and his favourite wife. To-day, more for- 
tunate still, I have seized and destroyed the King's 
two sons and a grandson (the famous, or rather in- 
famous, Abu Bukt), the villains who ordered the mas- 
sacre of our women and children, and stood by and 
witnessed the foul barbarity; their bodies are now 
lying on the spot where those of the unfortunate 
ladies were exposed. I am very tired, but very much 
satisfied with my day's work, and so seem all hands. 
We were to have accompanied the moveable column, 
but to-day it is counterordered, and we remain here.* 

September 2^rd. — When shall I have time to write 
really a letter ? It seems as if I were each day doomed 
to fresh labour and worry, and I long to shake off the 
whole coil, and go where I can find repose and peace. 
Fortunately, my health stands the wear and tear, and 



* Extract from the Despatches 0/ General Wilson on the 

Fall of Delhi. 

t Delhi, S&pt. 22nd. 1857. 

' I beg also to bring very favourably to notice the 

' officers of the Quartermaster-General's Department, . . . 

' and Captain Hodson, who has performed such good and 

* gallant service with his newly raised regiment of Irre- 
' gular Horse, and at the same time conducted the duties 

* of the Intelligence Department under the orders of the 

* Quartermaster-General with rare ability and success.' 



298 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

as my success has been great I must not grumble. 
. I came to camp this morning to see after 
the march of a detachment of my regiment which is 
ordered^ after half a dozen changes, to accompany a 
moveable column which is ordered to proceed towards 
Agra to-morrow. I am to remain here, and to tell the 
truth, the business is so mismanaged that I have 
ceased to care whether I go or stay. I fancy they 
find me too useful here. We move down bodily to or 
near the town to-morrow, and everything is in con- 
fusion and bustle. 

Septem,her 'X\th. — Brigadier Grant, like dear Sir 
Henry Lawrence (though both married men them- 
selves), says that soldiers have no business to marry; 
under the idea that anxiety for their wives' welfare 
and safety often induces men to hesitate to run risks 
which they would otherwise cheerfully undergo. I, on 
a less selfish principle, question very much whether 
men have any right to expose their vsdves to such 
misery and anxiety as during the last few months have 
fallen to the lot of so many; and yet it seems hard 
to say that soldiers, who have so much to endure at 
times for the sake of others and of their common 
country, should be denied the happiness of married 
life, because times of danger will sometimes occur, 
and certain I am "that the love of a noble-hearted 
woman nerves one's arm to daring and to honpur. 
Happy, however, is the woman whose husband is not 
a soldier. , . . Really the rumours which travel 
about are too ludicrous, though hardly more so than 
those which take rise and are actually believed in camp. 

The true account of the cavalry 'demonstration' 
is this : on the morning on which the city and palace 



RIDING ROUND THE CITY. 299 

were finally evacuated (i9tli)^ the whole of the 
available cavalry (not otherwise employed) moved 
out through the suburbs in the direction of, though 
not on the road to^ the Kootub, but with strict orders 
not to go under fire ! Well^ we all marched out to the 
top of the hill on which stands the 'Eedgah/ and thence, 
from a safe and respectful distance^ overlooked the 
camp of 4he Bareilly and Nusseerabad force, under 
' General ' Bukt Khan, quondam Subadar of artillery. 
While minutely examining the camp through my 
glass (I was with Brigadier Hope Grant, to show the 
way), I perceived by unmistakeable signs that it was 
being evacuated. Shortly after a loud explosion 
showed that they were blowing up their ammunition 
previous to a flight ; these signs were on the moment 
confirmed by the arrival of my ' Harkaras ' (mes- 
sengers), and I immediately got leave to go and tell 
the General. I did so, galloping down along the 
front of the city to see if that was quite clear. 
I then asked leave to go down through the camp, 
and see what was really the state of the case ; and 
Macdowell and I started with seventy-five men, and 
rode at a gallop right round the city to the Delhi gate, 
clearing the roads of plunderers and suspicious-looking 
objects as we went We found the camp as I had 
been told, empty, and the Delhi gate open ; we were 
there at ii a.m. at latest, and it was not until a p.m. 
that the order was given for the cavalry to move out, 
and they were so long about it, that when at sunset 
Macdowell and I were returning (bringing away 
three guns left by the enemy, and having made 
arrangements and collected camels for bringing in 
the empty tents, &c.), we met the advance-guard 



300 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

coming slowly forward in grand array ! We had 
been on to the jail and old fort, two or three miles 
beyond Delhi, and executed many a straggler. I 
brought in the mess plate of the 6oth Native Infantry^ 
their standards, drums, and other things. Macdowell 
and I had been for five hours inside the Delhi gate, 
hunting about, before a guard was sent to take charge 
of it. « 

The next day I got permission, after much argu- 
ment and entreaty, to go and bring in the king, for 
which (though negotiations for his life had been 
entertained) no provision had been made and no 
steps taken, and his favourite wife also, and the young 
imp (her son) whom he had destined to succeed him 
on the throne. This was successfully accomplished^ 
at the expense of vast fatigue and no trifling risk.* 
I then set to work to get hold of the villain princes. 
It was with the greatest difficulty that the General 
was persuaded to allow them to be interfered with, 
till even poor Nicholson roused himself to urge that 
the pursuit should be attempted. The General at 
length yielded a reluctant consent, adding ' but don^t 
let me be bothered with them.' I assured him it 
was nothing but his own order which *■ bothered ' him 
with the king, as I would much rather have brought 
him into Delhi dead than living. Glad to have at 
length obtained even this consent, I prepared for my 
dangerous expedition. Macdowell accompanied me, 
and taking one hundred picked men, I started early 
for the tomb of the Emperor Humayoon, where the 
villains had taken sanctuary. I laid my plans so as to 



Vide p. 303 fir more detailed account. 



CAPTURE OF PRINCES. 301 

cut off access to the tomb or escape from it^ and 
then sent in one of the inferior scions of the royal 
family (purchased for the purpose by the promise of 
his life) and my one-eyed Moulvie Eujub Alee, to say 
that I had come to seize the Shahzadahs for punish- 
ment, and intended to do so, dead or alive. After 
two hours of wordy strife and very anxious suspense, 
they appeared, and asked if their lives had been pro- 
mised by the Government, to which I answered 
' most certainly not,' and sent them away from the 
tomb towards the city, under a guard. I then went 
with the rest of the Sowars to the tomb, and found 
it crowded with, I should think, some 6000 or 7000 of 
the servants, hangers-on, and scum of the palace and 
city, taking refuge in the cloisters which lined the 
walls of the tomb. I saw at a glance that there was 
nothing for it but determination and a bold front, so 
I demanded in a voice of authority the instant 
surrender of their arms, &c. They immediately 
obeyed, with an alacrity I scarcely dared to hope for, and 
in less than two hours they brought forth from innu- 
merable hiding-places -some 500 swords and more 
than that number of fire-arms, besides horses, bullocks, 
and covered carts called ' Ruths,' used by the women 
and eunuchs of the palace. I then arranged the 
arms and animals in the centre, and left an armed 
guard with them, while I went to look after my 
prisoners, who, with their guard, had moved on 
towards Delhi. I came up just in time, as a large 
mob had collected, and were turning on the guard. 
I rode in among them at a gallop, and in a few words 
I appealed to the crowd, saying that these were the 
butchers who had murdered and brutally used 



302 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

helpless women and children, and that the Govern- 
ment had now sent their punishment : seizing a 
carhine from one of my men, I deliberately shot 
them one after another. I then ordered the bodies 
to be taken into the city, and thrown out on the 
'Chiboutra,' in front of the Kotwalie,"^ where the 
blood of their innocent victims still could be dis- 
tinctly traced. The bodies remained before the 
Kotwalie until this morning, when, for sanitary 
reasons, they were removed. In twenty-four hours, 
therefore, I disposed of the principal members of the 
house of Timur the Tartar. I am not cruel, but I 
confess I did rejoice at the opportunity of ridding 
the earth of these wretches. I intended to have had 
them hung, but when it came to a question of ' they ' 
or ^ us ^ I had no time for deliberation. 

September i^tli. — The picture drawn from the usually 
mendacious reports at Simla, is not even founded on 
fact. The women of the palace had all escaped be- 
fore the troops entered. 

The troops have behaved with singular moderation 
towards women and children, considering their pro-, 
vocation. I do not believe, and I have some means 
of knowing, that a single woman or child has been 
purposely injured by our troops, and the story on 



* It was on this spot that the head of Gooroo Teg 
Bahadoor had been exposed by order of Aurungzebe, the 
Great Mogul, nearly 200 years before. The Sikhs con- 
sidered that in attacking Delhi they were ' paying off an 
old score.' A prophecy had long been current among 
them, that by the help of the white man they should re- 
conquer Delhi. After this they looked on Captain 
Hodson as the ' avenger of their martyred Gooroo,' and 
were even more ready than before to follow him anywhere. 



NICHOLSON. 303 

vvhich your righteous indignation is grounded is quite 
false ; the troops have been demoralized by drink, but 
nothing more. 

September 2^th. — . . . I miss Colonel Seaton terribly, 
we have lived in the same tent for months, and had 
become brothers in affection as well as in arms. I 
mourn deeply for poor Nicholson : with the single ex- 
ceptions of my ever revered Sir Henry Lawrence, and 
Colonel Mackeson, I have never seen his equal in 
field or council ; he was pre-eminently our ' best and 
bravest,' and his loss is not to be atoned for in these 
days. I cannot help being pleased with the warm 
congratulations I receive on all sides for my success 
in destroying the enemies of our race ; the whole nation 

will rejoice, but lam pretty sure that however glad 

will be at their destruction, he will take exception 
to my having been the instrument, in God's hands, of 
their punishment. That wiU not signify, however ; 
I am too conscious of the rectitude of my own motives 
to care what the few may say while my own conscience 
and the voice of the many pronounce me right. 

A fuller account of the capture of the King 
will be found in a letter addressed to me 
shortly afterw^ards, and published by me in 
the Times, which I now reprint : — 

' I have before explained to you what your brother's 
' (Captain Hodson's) position officially was — namely, 
' that he was appointed Assistant- Quartermaster-Gene- 

* ral and Intelligence Officer on the Commander-in~ 

* Chief's own Staff. His reports were to be made to 
' him direct, without the intervention of the Quarter- 
' master-General, or any other person. 



304 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

^ For this appointment, which was then a most re- 
' sponsible one, as intelligence of the enemy's move- 

* ments and intentions were of the utmost importance, 
' his long acquaintance with Sikhs and Affghans, and 
' his having been similarly employed in the Punjab 
' war, had peculiarly fitted him. Of course, there 
' were always plenty of traitors in the enemy's camp 
' ready to sell their own fathers for gain, or to avoid 
' punishment, and he was invested with full power to 
' promise reward or punishment, in proportion to the 
' deserts of those who assisted him. 

' On our taking possession of the city gate, reports 
' came in that thousands of the enemy were evacua- 
' ting the city by the other gates, and that the King 
' also had left his palace. We fought our way inch 
' by inch to the palace walls, and then found truly 
' enough that its vast arena was void. The very day 
' after we took possession of the palace (the 20th), 
' Captain Hodson received information that the King 
' and his family had gone with a large force out of 
' the Ajmere-gate to the Kootub. He immediately 
' reported this to the General commanding, and asked 
' whether he did not intend to send a detachment in 

* pursuit, as with the King at liberty and heading so 
' large a force our victory was next to useless, and 
' we might be besieged instead of besiegers. General 
' Wilson replied that he could not spare a single 
' European. He then volunteered to lead a party of 
^ the Irregulars, but this offer was also refused, though 
' backed up by Neville Chamberlain. 

' During this time messengers were coming in 
' constantly, and among the rest one from Zeenat 
' Mahal (the favourite Begum), with an offer to use 



CAPTURE or THE KING. 305 

' her influence with the King to surrender on certain 
' conditions. These conditions at first were ludicrous 
' enough — vizj that the King and the whole of the 
' males of his family should be restored to his palace 
' and honours ; that not only should his pension be 
' continued, but the arrears since May be paid up. 
' with several other equally modest demands. I need 
' not say these were treated with contemptuous denial. 
' Negotiations, however, were vigorously carried on, 
' and care was taken to spread reports of an advance 
^ in force to the Kootub. Every report as it came in 
' was taken to General Wilson, who at last gave orders 
' to Captain Hodson to promise the King^s life and free- 
' dom from personal indignity, and make what other 
' terms he could. Captain Hodson then started with 
'■ only fifty of his own men for Humayoon^s Tomb, three 
' miles from the Kootub, where the King had come dur- 
' ing the day. The risk was such as no one can judge 
' of, who has not seen the road, amid the old ruins scat- 
' tered about of what was once the real city of Delhi. 
' He concealed himself and men in some old build- 
' ings close by the gateway of the Tomb, and sent 
' in his two emissaries to Zeenat Mahal with the 
' ultimatum — the King's life and that of her son and 
' father (the latter has since died). After two hours 
' passed by Captain Hodson in most trying suspense, 
' such as (he says) he never spent before, while wait- 
' ing the decision, his emissaries (one an old favourite 
' of poor Sir Henry Lawrence) came out with the last 
' ofi'er — that the King would deliver himself up to 
* Captain Hodson only, and on condition that he 
' repeated with his own lips the promise of the 
' Government for his safety. 



306 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

* Captain Hodson tlien went out into the middle 
* of the road in front of the gateway^ and said that 
' he was ready to receive his captives and renew the 
' promise. 

' You may picture to yourself the scene before that 
' magnificent gateway, with the milk-white domes of 
' the tomb towering up from within, one white man 
' among a host of natives, yet determined to secure his 
' prisoner or perish in the attempt. 

' Soon a procession began to come slowly out, 
' first Zeenat Mahal, in one of the close native con- 
' veyances used for women. Her name was announced 
^ as she passed by the Moulvie. Then came the 
' King in a palkee, on which Captain Hodson rode 
' forward and demanded his arms. Before giving 
' them up, the King asked whether he was " Hodson 
' Bahadoor," and if he would repeat the promise made 
' by the herald ? Captain Hodson answered that he 
' would, and repeated that the Government had been 
' gracionsly pleased to promise him his life, and that 
' of Zeenat MahaPs son, on condition of his yielding 
' himself prisoner quietly, adding very emphatically, 
' that if any attempt was made at a rescue he would 
^ shoot the King down on the spot like a dog. The 
' old man then gave up his arms, which Captain 
' Hodson handed to his orderly, still keeping his own 
' sword drawn in his hand. The same ceremony was 
' then gone through with the boy (Jumma Bukh); and 
' the march towards the city began, the longest five 
' miles, as Captain Hodson said, that he ever rode, 
' for of course the palkees only went at a foot pace, 
' with his handful of men ai"ound them, followed by 
' thousands, any one of whom could have shot him 



CAPTURE OT THE KING. 307 

down in a moment. His orderly told me that it 
was wonderful to see the influence which his calm 
and undaunted look had on the crowd. They 
seemed perfectly paralysed at the fact of one white 
man (for they thought nothing of his fifty black 
sowars) carrying off their King alone. Gradually 
as they approached the city the crowd slunk away^ 
and very few followed up to the Lahore gate. Then 
Captain Hodson rode on a few paces and ordered 
the gate to be opened. The officer on duty asked 
simply as he passed what he had got in his pal- 
kees. " Only the King of Delhi," was the answer, 
on which the officer's enthusiastic exclamation was 
more emphatic than becomes ears polite. The 
guard were for turning out to greet him with a 
cheer, and could only be repressed, on being told 
that the King would take the honour to himself. 
They passed up that magnificent deserted street 
to the palace gate, where Captain Hodson met the 
civil officer (Mr. Saunders), and formally delivered 
over, his Royal prisoners to him. His remark was 
amusing, " By Jove ! Hodson, they ought to make 
you Commander-in-Chief for this." 

' On proceeding to the GeneraFs quarters to re- 
port his successful return, and hand over the Royal 
arms, he was received with the characteristic speech, 
" Well, Fm glad you have got him, but I never ex- 
pected to see either him or you again \" while the 
other officers in the room were loud in their con- 
gratulations and applause. He was requested to 
select for himself from the Royal arms what he 
chose, and has therefore two magnificent swords, one 
with the iiame of " Nadir Shah," and the other the 

X 2 



308 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

* seal of Jehan Give engraved upon it^ wliicli he in- 
' tends to present to the Queen. 

' On the following day, as you already know, he 
' captured three of the Princes : but of this more here- 
' after. I am anxious now that you should fully un- 
' derstand that your brother was bound by orders from 
' the General to spare the King^s life, much against 
' his own will ; that the capture alone was on his 
' own risk and responsibility, and not the pledge.^^ 

I am allowed to insert here a most graphic 
letter, written by Lieut. Macdowell, 2nd in 
command of Hodson's Horse .• — 

' On the morning of the 19th we formed up and 
' saw the townspeople coming in thousands out of the 
' Delhi gate (still in the enemy's possession), and 
' passing through their camp, taking the high road 
' to the Kootub. Too far off to do any damage, we 
' waited (the ground a mass of hard rocks, imprac- 
' ticable for cavalry) till 9 a.m., and then retired. 
' Hodson, my commanding officer, then went to the 
' General, and at ten I received a note from him, 
' " Gallop down with fifty men and meet me at the 
' Cashmere gate as sharp as possible.'' Down I 



* All the notice taken of this remarkable exploit in 
Major-General Wilson's dispatch of September 22nd was — 

' The King, ■who accompanied the troops for some short 
' distance last night, gave himself up to a party of 
' Irregular Cavahy whom I sent out in the direction of 
' the fugitives, and he is now a prisoner under a guard of 
' European soldiers.' 

We may well remark on this anonytnous version, ' id 
maxime formidolosum, privati hominis nomen supra 
principis attolli." — Ed. , 



CAPTURE OF SHAHZADAHS. 309 

went, and he told me he had volunteered to ride 
through the enemy's camp and reconnoitre ; that no 
one knew if they were there in force or not, and he 
asked me if I would accompany him. Of course I was 
only too glad, and off we went. They fired at us 
as we approached, from gardens and places all round, 
but I imagine they thought more men were coming, 
and bolted, we (only fifty of us) cutting up all their 
stragglers to the tune of some fifty or sixty. As we 
came back we intercepted a whole lot of towns- 
people escaping. Well, I must not linger on this. 
Having done our work (and it wasn^t a bad thing to 
do, to gallop through their camp with fifty men, 
not knowing whether they were there or not), we 
cautiously approached the Delhi gate. It was open, 
but all was silent. Our troops had not as yet 
ventured so far. Afar off we heard the firing in 
the city in other quarters ; leaving our men outside, 
with four Sowars behind us with cocked carbines, we 
rode in, holding our revolvers ready for a row. Not 
a soul was there; all still as death. I looked round, 
and close to where I was sitting were two bottles of 
beer amidst a heap of plate, silver, clothes, &c. 
Perhaps I didn't jump off sharp ! It was all right ; 
real beer ! madam ; we uncorked, and drank the 
Queen's health at once. After a little time, as the 
firing approached, and we found all was right, we 
rode away, and reported what we had done. The 
General was very pleased. 

' And now for my great adventure. On the 20th 
the King gave himself up, and was lodged securely 
in Delhi under a guard. On this day all had 
evacuated the place, of which we were complete 



310 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

masters. On the 31st a note from Hodson, "Come 
sharp^ bring one hundred men.^^ Off I went, time 
6 0^ clock A.M. To explain why he wrote to me, I 
must tell you that although he commanded the 
regiment, he was also the head of the Intelligence 
Department, and lived in the General's quarters, 
while I lived with the regiment, commanding it in 
his absence, as being Second in command. Well, 
down I went. He told me he had heard that the 
three Princes'^ (the heads of the rebellion and sons of 
the King) were in a tomb six miles off, and he 
intended going to bring them, and offered me the 
chance of accompanying him. Wasn't it handsome 
on his part ! Of course I went : we started at 
about eight o'clock, and proceeded slowly towards 
the tomb. It is called Humayoon's Tomb, and is 
an immense building. In it were the princes and 
about 3000 Mussulman followers. In the suburb 
close by about 3000 more, all armed, so it was rather 
a ticklish bit of work. We halted half a mile from 
the place, and sent in to say the princes must give 
themselves up unconditionally, or take the con- 
sequences. A loug half hour elapsed, when a 
messenger came out to say the princes wished to 
know if their lives would be promised them, if they 
came out. " Unconditional surrender," was the 
answer. Again we waited. It was a most anxious 
time. We dared not take them by force, or all 
would have been lost, and we doubted their coming. 
We heard the shouts of the fanatics (as we found 
out afterwards) begging the princes to lead them on 



* Called Shahzadahs. 



humayoon's tomb. 311 

' against us. And we had only one hundred men, 
' and were six miles from Delhi. At length, I 
' suppose, imagining that sooner or later they must 
' be taken, they resolved to give themselves up un- 
' conditionally, fancying, I suppose, as we had spared 
' the King, we would spare them. So the messenger 
' was sent to say they were coming. We sent ten men 
' to meet them, and by Hodson's order I drew the 
' troop up across the road, ready to receive them, and 
' shoot them at once if there was any attempt at 
' a rescue. Soon they appeared in a small " Ruth " 
' or Hindoostanee cart drawn by bullocks, five 
' troopers on each side. Behind them thronged 
' about 2000 or 3000 (I am not exaggerating) Mussul- 
' mans. We met them, and at once Hodson and I rode 
' up, leaving the men a little in the rear. They 
' bowed as we came up, and Hodson, bowing, ordered 
' the driver to move on. This was the minute. The 
' crowd behind made a movement. Hodson waved 
*■ them back ; I beckoned to the troop, which came up, 
' and in an instant formed them up between the 
' crowd and the cart. By Hodson^s order I advanced 

* at a walk on the people, who fell back sullenly and 
' slowly at our approach. It was touch and go. 
' Meanwhile Hodson galloped back, and told the 
'' sowars (10) to hurry the princes on along the road, 
' while we showed a front and kept back the mob. 

* They retired on Humayoon's tomb, and step by step 
' we followed them. Inside they went up the steps, 
' and formed up in the immense garden inside. The 
' entrance to this was through an arch, up steps. 
' Leaving the men outside, Hodson and myself (I 
' stuck to him throughout), with four men, rode up 



312 SIEGE or DELHI, 

the steps into the arch, when he called out to them 
to lay down their arms. There was a murmur. 
He reiterated the command, and (God knows why, 
I never can understand it) they commenced doing 
so. Now you see we didn^t want their arms, 
and under ordinary circumstances would not have 
risked our lives in so rash a way, but what we 
wanted was to gain time to get the princes away, 
for we could have done nothing had they attacked 
us, but cut our way back, and very little chance 
of doing even this successfully. Well, there we 
stayed for two hours, collecting their arms, and I 
assure you I thought every moment they would rush 
upon us. I said nothing, but smoked all the time, to 
show I was unconcerned ; but at last, when it was all 
done, and all the arms collected, put in a cart, and 
started, Hodson turned to me and said, '' We'll go, 
now.'' Very slowly we mounted, formed up the 
troop, and cautiously departed, followed by the crowd. 
We rode along quietly. You will say, why did. we 
not charge them ? I merely say, we were one 
hundred men, and they were fully 6000. I am not 
exaggerating ; the official reports will show you it is 
all true. As we got about a mile off, Hodson turned 
to me and said, " Well, Mac, we've got them at 
last;" and we both gave a sigh of relief. Never 
in my life, under the heaviest fire, have I been in 
such imminent danger. Everybody says it is the most 
dashing and daring thing that has been done for years 
(not on my part, for I merely obeyed orders, but on 
Hodson's, who planned and carried it out). Well, 
I must finish my story. We came up to the princes, 
now about five miles from where we had taken them. 



DEATH OF SHAHZADAHS. 313 

' and close to Delhi. The increasing crowd pressed 
' close on the horses of the sowars, and assumed 
' every moment a more hostile appearance. " What 
' shall we do with them ?" said Hodson to me. " I 
' think we had better shoot them here; we shall never 
'- get them in." 

' We had identified them by means of a nephew of 
' the king's whom we had with uSj and who turned 
^ king's evidence. Besides, they acknowledged them- 
' selves to be the men. Their names were Mirza 
' Mogul, the king's nephew and head of the whole 
' business; Mirza Kishere Sultamet, who was also 
' one of the principal rebels, and had made himself 
* notorious by murdering women and children ; and 
' Abu Bukt, the commander-in-chief nominally, and 
' heir-apparent to the throne. This was the young 
' fiend who had stripped our women in the open street, 
' and cutting off little children's arms and legs, poured 
' the blood into their mothers' mouths : this is literally 
' the case. There was no time to be lost; we halted 
' the troop, put five troopers across the road behind and 
' in front. Hodson ordered the Princes to strip and 
' get again into the cart, he then shot them with his 
' own hand. So ended the career of the chiefs of the 
' revolt, and of the greatest villains that ever shamed 
' humanity. Before they were shot, Hodson ad- 
' dressed our men, explaining who they were, and 
' why they were to suffer death ; the effect was 
' marvellous, the Mussulmans seemed struck with a 
' wholesome idea of retribution, and the Sikhs shouted 
' with delight, while the mass moved off slowly and 
' silently. One of the sowars pointed out to me a 
' man running rapidly across a piece of cultivated 



314 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

' ground^ with arms gleaming- in the sunlight. I and 
' the sowar rode after him, when I discovered it 
' was the king's fovourite eunuch, of whose atrocities 
' we had heard so much. The sowar cut him down 
' instantly, and we returned, well satisfied that we 
' had rid the world of such a monster. It was now 
' four o'clock : Hodson rode into the city with the 
* cart containing the bodies, and had them placed in 
' the most public street, where all might see them. 
' Side by side they lay where, four months before, on 
' the same spot^ they had outraged and murdered our 
' women. I went quietly home with the troop, 
' nearly dead, having had nothing (except water) since 
' six o'clock the previous night. I have not time to 
' write you of my subsequent adventures, but will 
' next mail. We have gained a great deal of KvBog 
' for this business, and I hear are to be rewarded in 
' some way or other.' 

Some months later my brother wrote with 
reference to this matter : — 

Camp, on the left bank of the Ganges, 

OPPOSITE CaWNPORE, 

Feb. 12th, 1858. 
... I see that many people suppose that I had pro- 
mised the old King his life after he was caught. Pray 
contradict this. The promise was given two days be- 
fore, to induce him to leave the rebel troops and 
return to the near neighbourhood of Delhi within 
reach. General Wilson refused to send troops in 
pursuit of him, and to avoid greater calamities I then, 
and not till then, asked and obtained permission to 
offer him his wretched life, on the ground, and solely 



CAPTIVE KING. 315 

on the grouTidj thatthei'e was no other way of getting 
him into our possession. The people were gathering 
round him. His name would have been a tocsin which 
would have raised the whole of Hindoostan, and the 
Rajas and Rajpootana in the south would have been 
forced to have joined in the rising, which would then 
have been universal. Was it not better to get rid 
of all this, and secure ourselves from further mischief 
at the simple cost of sparing the life of an old man 
of ninety ? It must be remembered, too, that we had 
no troops left to meet any further augmentation of 
our enemies. A small force under Colonel Greathed 
was with difficulty found, some days later, to go to- 
wards Agra ; and it was clear to me then (as ex- 
perience has since shown) that we had still months 
to wait for reinforcements from home. Here is 
February; the King was caught in September, and 
yet up to this present day the Commander-in-Chief 
has not been able to send a single soldier of all that 
have arrived from England up as far as Delhi ; and 
all Rohilcund, all Oude, a great part of Central 
India, all Bundelcund, and most of Behar, are still in 
the hands of the enemy. Would it have been wise 
to have given, in addition to all this, so strong an 
incentive to combination, to the warlike men of the 
north-west, as they would have had in the person of 
a sacred and ' heaven-born ' monarch, dethroned, 
wandering and homeless, but backed by a whole army 
in rebellion ? I am blamed for it now ; but knowing 
that there was no other way of getting him into our 
power, I am quite content to take the obloquy. It 
will hereafter be admitted that one of the greatest 
blows was struck at the root of the rebellion when the 



316 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

old king was led a captive into his own palace on 
tlie aist of September, 1857.* Strange, that some of 
those who are loudest against me for sparing the 
king, are also crying out at my destroying his sons. 
' Quousque tandem ?' I may well exclaim. But in 
point of fact, I am quite indiflPerent to clamour either 
way. I made up my mind at the time to be abused. 
I was convinced I was right, and when I prepared 
to run the great physical risk of the attempt, I was 
equally game for the moral risk of praise or blame. 
These have not been, and are not times when a man who 
would serve his country dare hesitate as to the per- 
sonal consequencestohimself of what he thinkshis duty. 

I am indebted to Sir T. Seaton for an 
ansv^er to inquiries addressed to my brother, 
v^hich never reached him : — 

* " I see you are anxious to clear up '' the two 
' vexed questions : — Why did he guarantee the life 
' of the king ? Why did he strip the princes ? He 
' guaranteed the life of the king, because he was 
' ordered to do so by General Wilson ; and I think 
' that under the circumstances it was wise and 
^ prudent (though highly distasteful to the General), 
' for it enabled us to get hold of the nominal head 
' of the great rebellion, and to secure the capture of 



*From Mr. Montgomeky, now Chief Commissioner 
of Oude. 

'Sept. 2gth. 
' My dear Hodson, — All honour to you (and to your 
' " Horse") for catching the King and slaying his sons. I 
' hope you will bag many more ! In haste, 

' Ever yours, 

'B. Montgomery.' 



DESCRIPTION OF CAPTAIN HODSON. 317 

' those greater scoundrels^ the princes. No one ever 
' thought out here of asking why he stripped the 
' princes, or rather why he made them take oS their 
' upper garments. It certainly was not as the French 
' stupidly assert, "^ pour ne pas gater le hutin," for if 
' the upper corresponded with the nether clothes in 
' which the bodies were laid out, they would have 
' been dear at a shilling the lot. He made them strip 
* off their upper garments, to render their death and 
' subsequent exposure at the Kotwalla more impres- 
' sive and terrible. Some people ask, " Why did he 
' shoot them himself?" To this I will reply by 
' another question, *■' What would have been the effect 
' on that vast crowd of a single moment^s hesitation 
' or appearance of hesitation ?" ' 

Before this chapter closes, T will insert 
one or two anecdotes and descriptions of my 
brother, from letters written at this time by 
officers before Delhi, which have been kindly 
placed at my disposal. They will help to fiU 
Tip the picture of him, which may be drawn 
from his own diary. 

One says : — 

' The way Hodson used to work was quite miraculous. 
' He was a slighter man and lighter weight than I 
' am. Then he had that most valuable gift, of being 
' able to get refreshing sleep on horseback. I have 
' been out with him all night following and watch- 
* ing the enemy, when he has gone off dead asleep, 
' waking up after an hour as fresh as a lark ; whereas. 



318 SIEGE OF DELHI. 

^ if I went to sleep in the saddle^ the odds were I fell 
' off on my nose. 

' He was the very perfection of a " free-lance," 
' and such an Intelligence officer ! He used to know 
/ what the rebels had for dinner in Delhi. 

' In a fight he was glorious. If there was only a 
' a good hard skrimmage he was as happy as a king. 
' A beautiful swordsman, he never failed to kill his 
' man ; and the way he used to play with the most 
' brave and furious of these rebels was perfect. I 
' fancy I see him now, smiling, laughing, parrying 
' most fearful blows, as calmly as if he were brushing 
' off flies, calling out all the time, " Why, try again, 
' now," " What's that ?" " Do you call yourself a 
' swordsman ?" Sec. 

'The way that in a pursuit he used to manage his hog 
' spear was miraculous. It always seemed to me that 
' he bore a charmed life, and so the enemy thought. 

' His judgment was as great as his courage, and 
' the heavier the fire or the greater the difficulty, the 
' more calm and reflecting he became.' 

Another (Sir T. Seaton) : — 

' You know that during the whole of that terrible 
' siege we were together in the same tent ; and it was 
' to his unremitting care and nursing that in great 
' measure I owed my life. 

' It was there that I saw in all their splendour his 
' noble soldierly qualities, never fatigued^ never down- 
' cast, always cool and calm, with a cheerful counte- 
' nance, and a word of encouragement for every one. 

' I used often to say, '' Here, Hodson, is somebody 
' else comina: for comfort." ' 



NOTICES OF CAPTAIN HODSON. 310 

Another says : — 

' He has wonderful tact in getting information 
' out of the natives, and divining the movements of 
' the enemy. He is scarcely out of the saddle day or 
' night, for not only has he to lead his regiment and 
^ keep the country clear, but being Intelligence Officer, 
' he is always on the move to gain news of the 
' progress of affairs, and acts and intentions of the 
' enemy, 

' Even when he might take rest he will not, but 
-' will go and help work at the batteries, and expose 
' himself constantly, in order to relieve some fainting 
' gunner or wounded man.' 

I have this anecdote from another : — 

' In the camp at Delhi, when the incessant fatigue 
' to which the soldiers were exposed forbade the strict 
' enforcement of the continual salute, it was remarked 
' that Hodson never passed down the lines without 
' every man rendering to him that mark of respect. 
' The soldiers loved him as their own. " There goes 
' "that 'ere Hodson," said a drunken soldier as he 
' cantered down the lines ; " he's sure to be in every- 
' " thing : he'll get shot, I know he will, and I'd a 
' " deal rather be shot myself; we can't do without 
' " him." ' 

I venture to quote from Mr. H. Grreathed's 
Letters (published by his widovs^) some further 
notices of my brother : — 

' Hodson keeps an Argus eye on the rear and left 
^ flank, and is always ready for an adventurous ride. 
' I am not surprised at Gough liking him ; he has a 



320 NOTICES OF CAPTAIN HODSON. 

' rare gift of brains as well as of pluck \ The uniform 
' of his men_, " khakee '' tunics, with a scarlet sash 
' and turban^ is very picturesque. 

' Hodson certainly" the most wide-awake soldier in 
' camp. 

' A charge of cavalry was turned by a few 
' musket shots from a party under Hodson^ who 
^ always turns up in moments of difficulty/ 

Again, speaking of him while absent at 
Rohtuck, A^ugust 19th: — 

' We have no further intelligence from Hodson. 
' He is employed on just the wild work he likes^ and 
' will be loth to return. The public still amuses 
' itself with giving his regiment new names, " the 
' Aloobokharas " and " E-ingtailed Roarers/^ are the 
' last I have heard of. 

,....' There was some alarm yesterday about 
' Hodson's safety. I cannot say I shared the feeling, 
' I have such confidence in his audacity and resource. 

. , . . ' Hodson is quite safe, he will now return to 
' camp, and after being in for an hour, he will be seen 
' looking as fresh, clean-shaved, and spruce, as if he 
' had never left it.' 



CHAPTEE IV. 

showers' column, SEATON^S COLUMN. — GUNGEEEE. 

PUTIALEE. MYNPOOREE. RIDE TO COMMANDER-IN- 

CHIEF's CAMP. JUNCTION OF FORCES. SHUMSHABAD. 

ir\UEINGr tlie greater part of October, Capt. 
Hodson was employed with a flying 
column sent out under Brigadier Showers to 
pacify the Country lying to the south-west of 
Delhi. 

Hodson's Horse had by this time acquired 
such proportions that they admitted of being 
divided. One detachment, under Lieut. Grough, 
were sent with Colonel Grreathed's column 
towards Agra, and afterwards joined Sir Colin 
Campbell's force, and took part, with much 
distinction, in the final relief of Lucknow b}^ 
Sir Cohn and Sir James Outram. 

The main body, with their commandant, 
accompanied Brigadier Showers, and were of 
great service in anticipating the movements 
and cutting ofi" the retreat of the flying enemy, 
as well as in scouring the country and bringing 
in supplies. Their rapidity of movement and 
dasliing courage made them a terror to the 
rebel forces, who had on more than one occa- 



322 CATTLE. 

sion, painful experience of the keenness of 
their sabres. 

In the course of the expedition, the forces of 
several rebel rajahs were defeated, their strong- 
holds captured with many guns, and treasure 
amounting to 70,000/. taken, besides large 
quantities of cattle. 

On one occasion upwards of 1700 head of 
cattle had been taken. When they were 
brought in, Brigadier Showers exclaimed, 
' Hang me ! what in the world am I to do with 
them ? It would take half my force to con- 
voy them back to Delhi. I can't take them." 
On this Captain Hodson said, ' Well, sir, wiU 
you sell them to me, and let me take my 
chance ?' ' Willingly,' said the Brigadier ; 
so the bargain was struck for two rupees a 
head. Captain Hodson sent them off, under 
charge of their drivers, and two or three of 
his own sowars, to Delhi, where they arrived 
safely, and were of course sold at a large profit. 

The speculation turned out a good one, but 
the chances were against it, No one else, 
probably, under the circumstances, would have 
run the risk, and the cattle would have been 
left behind. 

I mention this anecdote as showing that in 
small things as well as great my brother 
refused to acknowledge difficulties, and de- 



COW-HOUSE. 3.23 

served the character given liim of being the 
most ' wide-awake' man in the army. Shortly 
afterwards he invested part of the proceeds in a 
house at Umbala which happened to be then 
put up for a forced sale at a great depreciation. 
This consequently went among his friends by 
the name of the ' cow-house.' 

A short time before the return of the column 
to Delhi, he applied for a few weeks' leave, in 
order to join his wife, who had come down 
from Simla to Umbala. 

On November 3rd he wrote to his sister 
from Umbala : — 

After nearly six months of separation^ I was 
happy enough to get back here yesterday night, and 
find my wife well, and all but recovered from the 
effects of her frightful accident, the most wonderful 
escape, perhaps, from imminent peril ever recorded. 
I take the first holiday I have had since the 15th 
May, to write a few lines to you, my dearest sister, 
to say what deep and real pleasure and comfort your 
letters bring to me, amidst danger and toil and 
fatigue ; and how cheering it is to feel that, come 
what may, I am sure of your loving sympathy and 
constant affection. I received yesterday your letter 
of the 4th May, and could not but be most forcibly 
struck with the contrast between my circumstances 
individually, and those of the country, then and now. 
No one will rejoice more than yourself at the sudden 
change, and at the tolerable success which has been 
permitted to my labours 



324 PROGRESS or regiment. 

Nov. j^tJi. — Here my pen was arrested by the news 
that the mail was gone. In these days all regularity 
is set at defiance, and again we have been startled by 
a notice to send our letters within half-an-hour, and 
that, too, in the midst of preparation for a hurried 
return to Delhi and Meerut, to rejoin my regiment . 
We march at once to join Sir Colin Campbell and 
the army assembling at Cawnpore for the re-conquest 
of Lucknow. 

I am getting on famously with my regiment : men 
of good family and fighting repute are really flocking 
to my standard,* and before the end of the year I 
hope to have looo horsemen under my command. 

I had a letter the other day from at 

Calcutta, from which I learn that at last the truth 
is beginning to dawn on the minds of men in power 
regarding me. They now say that my remonstrance 
will be placed on record for preservation, ^not for 



* A letter from Delhi, in October, says : — 
' The corps raised by that very gallant officer, Captain 
' Hodson, is composed more than anything we have 
' hitherto had of the old sirdars and soldiers of Eunjeet 
' Singh's time, in consequence of which, and the skill of 
' their commander, they ai^e already an extremely efficient 
' corps. 

' I was talking this morning to a very independent 
' looking Eesaldar, who seemed to be treated by his men 
' much more as they do a European officer than is ever 
' seen in our service, and who bore himself as the inferior 
' of no one, and I found that he had been long a colonel 
' of artillexy in Rvinjeet Singh's service, and very openly 
' went through the part he had taken against us in the 
' revolt of 1849.' 



seaton's column. 325 

justification^ which it is fully admitted was not 
required/ and that ' no higher testimonials were ever 
produced/ 

How much I have to be thankful for, not only for 
restored position and means for future distinction, 
but for safety and preservation during this terrible 
war, and for my dear wife's escape. 

You must not misunderstand my silence. I was 
compelled to leave the task of writing letters to Susie : 
I had barely time to keep her assured of my safety 
from day to day. 

On tlie 2nd December, ' Hodson's Horse' 
were ordered to join a moveable column 
Tinder Colonel Thomas Seaton, C.B., proceed- 
ing down the country towards Cawnpore, in 
ctarge of an immense convoy of supplies of all 
kinds for the Commander-in-Chief's army. 
The convoy was calculated to extend over 
fifteen miles of road — hackeries of grain, 
camels, elephants, horses — and but 1500 men 
and four guns to protect them all. At AUygurh, 
the forces marching respectively from Delhi 
and Meerut united on the i ith. On the follow- 
ing day Colonel Seaton, leaving the convoy 
under the protection of the guns of the fort, 
proceeded by forced marches to look after some 
large parties of the rebel army who were en- 
camped in the Doab. I must again acknow- 
ledge my obligations to the pen of Lieutenant 



326 ENGAGEMEIsT AT GUNGEREE. 

Macdowell for a fuller chronicle of the doings 
of Hodson's Horse than my brother was able 
to give himself: — 

' On the 12th we left Allygurh^ and turning out 
^ of the Grand Trunk E,oad^ marched into the heart 
' of the disturbed districts. On the 14th, we heard 
' the rebel army were in great force at a place called 
' KhasgungCj but on arriving at Gungeree, about six 
' miles from their encampment, they came out in 
' force and boldly attacked us. 

' The fight is soon told. They advanced in line, 
' and opened upon us with artillery, their infantry 
' advancing in skirmishing order. Our artillery went 
' to the front and opened fire upon them, but their 
' advance was so steady that Colonel Seaton ordered 
' the Carabineers to charge the guns, which they did 
' in the most gallant style, taking them and cutting 
'down the gunners, losing, however, three out of 
' four officers, Wardlaw, Hudson, and Vyse. This was 
' on the right. Our infantry in the centre advanced 
' in line, but did not come into action, in consequence 
' of the rapid movement of the cavalry and artillery. 

' On the left, our regiment was placed, to prevent 
' their turning our flank, as they threatened to do. 
' The dust was so tremendous that I could see no- 
'. thing, so the regiment was halted, and I rode for- 
' ward, when I saw the Carabineers charging on the 
' right, and the whole of the enemy^s infantry and 
' cavalry retiring in front of me. Immediately, with- 
' out waiting for orders, I sang out " Charge," and 
' charge we did, and upset them in every direction 
' for miles. I was nearly wounded once or twice in 



seaton's column. 327 

' the pursuit, by desperate men fighting for their 
' lives, but escaped without a scratch. We had twenty- 
' three men killed or wounded."^ 

' Well, the next day we marched to Khasgunge, 
' which we, pushing on in advance, found evacuated, 
' Here we heard that the enemy were in great force 
' at Puttialee, about twenty miles off, where they had 
' been joined by the remains of the force we had 
' beaten the day before ; and also, that they were 
' entrenching themselves, and determined to fight. 
' The report was they had fifteen thousand men and 
' nineteen guns. We marched the next day to 
' Suhawur, enemy still reported to be in front. 

' On the morning of the 17th we marched in 
' order of battle at 8 a.m. to Puttialee. I undertook 
' the reconnoitring, with Hodson, and consequently 
' we preceded the column with one hundred men, 
' accompanied by two engineer officers. The advance 
' guard consisted of fifty Hodson's Horse ; thirty 
' Carabineers, one hundred infantry, and two guns 
' following us, and ready to support us if necessary. 

' About half way we fell in with the enemy's videttes, 
' who retreated rapidly on our approach, and soon 



* From Despatch from Colonel T. Seaton, C.B., to 

Major-General Penny, Commanding at Delhi. 

' The General will see by the list of casualties, that 
' Captaia Hodson's newly raised body of Horse was 
' not backward, and rendered excellent service. It could 

* not do less under its distinguished commander, whom I 
' beg particularly to mention to the Major-General, as 

* having on every possible occasion rendered me the 

* most efficieqt service, whether in gaining information, 
' reconnoitring the country, or leading his regiment.' 



328 ACTION AT PUTTIALEE. 

' after came upon the main body of their cavalry, who 
' fired upon us, and then slowly retired before our ad- 
^ vance. We formed up the hundred men, and went 
' on steadily, expecting to be charged by them every 
' moment, as they were 400 or 500 strong. They 
' retired, however, before us till we came to a thick belt 
' of trees, when suddenly seven guns opened upon us. 
' Halting the men. and sending back for the advanced 
' guard, we (the officers) rode rapidly forward to recon- 
' noitre their position, and found them strongly posted 
' across the road, with about eleven guns, with which 
' they pitched into us pretty strong. 

' We sent back to tell the Colonel, and soon, to our 
' great delight, we saw our line advancing in beautiful 
' order, and shortly after our horse artillery galloped 
' up, went 500 yards in advance, and opened on the 
' enemy, who replied with hearty good will, and the 
' battle commenced. 

' I now rejoined my regiment, which was imme- 
' diately ordered up in support of the artillery on the 
■ right, the Carabineers going on the left, and our in« 
' fantry advancing in line. Their fire soon slackened 
' as our artillery advanced nearer ; so did we. By this 
' time we were within 800 yards of their camp, when 
' Hodson, seeing that they were beginning to waver, 
' gave the order to charge, and on we went slap into 
' their camp, our horse artillery limbering up and 
' leaping into their saddles, leading the way. They 
' turned and ran, and we, galloping through their en- 
' campment, came upon a fortified village : nothing 
' could then stop us ; through it we went, and on 
' emerging from it, found the whole plain in front of 
' us covered with them, cavalry, artillery ,-and all, i-un- 



seaton's column. 829 

' nmg away. We pursued them for eight miles^ and 
' I am within the mark when I say that we left up- 
' wards of tooo dead on the field. Our infantry 
' coming up in our rear, turned those we had passed by 
' in our rapid advance, out of the village, where they 
' had secreted themselves, bayoneting and shooting 
' them down in every direction. We took thirteen 
' guns, the whole of their park, ammunition, camp, and 
' stores, killed a great many chiefs, amongst others a 
' Nawab who was mounted on an elephant in a silver 
' howdah. I received the thanks of our commander, 
' together with Hodson and the engineer ojQ&cers, for 
' the reconnoitring part of the expedition. 

' Well, after this we halted for three days, pushing out 
' reconnaissances' in all directions ; and having satisfied 
' ourselves that the enemy had broken up in every 
' direction, and gone to Futtehgurh, that refuge for 
' the destitute, we moved backwards to Gungeree ; 
' and then striking across to Etah, pushed down 
' the Grand Trunk Road towards Mynpooree, the 
' Eajah of which place, it was reported, was deter- 
' mined to stand against us. 

' We reached Koorowlee on the 36th, having spent 
' the day before Christmas-day very merrily. We (Hod- 
' son^s Horse) entertained the officers of the column. 
' Believe me, I drank all your healths, and fervently 
' prayed that I might be spared to spend another 
' Christmas-day with you all. 

' Hearing that the Rajah was in force, and deter- 
' mined to fight, we advanced on the morning of the 
' 37th, forced the enemy from their position, cap- 
' turing six guns, and routing them in all directions. 
' We got possession of Mynpooree, and all their park 



330 ACTION AT MYNPOOREE. 

' stores, &e. Our cavalry pursued them twelve miles, 
' and cut up a great many. So you see between the 
^ 13th and the 27th we have fought three actions, tra- 
' versed the Doab, dispersed the enemy in every direc- 
' tion, captured twenty- five guns and vast stores of 
' ammunition, and cut up vast numbers of rebels. 
' This is not bad work, considering that our force 
' consisted of only 2000 men of all arms, and eight 
' light and three heavy guns.' 

My brother's ov^n notices of these operations, 

in liis few letters to England, are very brief. 

On the 1st January he writes from Bewar, to 

which the column had advanced from Myn- 

pooree : — 

January 1st, 1858. 

. . . Within the last month, under Colonel T. Seaton's 
command, we have fought three actions, and captured 
twenty-five guns, and marched I can't say how many 
miles. I can only say that on one day — that before 
yesterday — I rode ninety-four miles between ' morn 
and dewy eve,' to carry a despatch to the Commander- 
in-Chief, and bring back his orders to Seaton ; and I 
generally pass my time in the saddle. My reception 
by Sir Colin Campbell was most flattering and cordial, 
and he got some ' chops and ale ' for me, and sat 
down in a quiet friendly way by my side to help me 
feed, which would have pleased you to see. 

At last, after twelve years' service, I am a captain, 
regiraentally from the 14th September last; poor 
Major Jacob's death after the assault having given 
me my promotion — dearly purchased by the death of 
such a man ! I have much to be thankful for, not 



OPENING COMMUNICATION. 331 

only for the most unhoped-for escapes from wounds 
and deaths but for the position I now occupy, and for 
the appreciation my work has received from those 
in power. 

My new regiment has done good service and got 
much Kv^og. 

We expect to join the Commander-in-Chief^s force, 
and march together on Futtehgurh and Bareilly. 
There is much work before us still in B/ohilcund and 
Oude. I do not expect to see the end of the war for 
some months. You will have to keep on sending us 
more men for some time to come. 

The ride so cursorily mentioned was a most 
gallant and successful attempt to open commu- 
cation between the two forces. In the course 
of it, my brother and Lieutenant Macdowell 
had a most hairbreadth escape, which is thus 
narrated by the latter : — 

' Camp, Bewae, Jan. ist, 1858. 

' You know we took Mynpooree on the 27th. We 

'halted that day and the two following. On the 

' night of the 29th, Hodson came into my tent, about 

' nine o'clock, and told me a report had come in that the 

* Commander-in-Chief had arrived with his forces at 

* Goorsahaigunge, about thirty-eight miles from Myn- 
' pooree and that he had volunteered to ride over to him 
' with despatches, asking me at the same time if I 
' would accompany him. Of course I consented at 
' once, and was very much gratified by his selecting 

* me as his companion. At 6 a.m. the next morning 
' we started ; with seventy-five sowars of our own 



332 DANGEROUS RIDE. 

' regiment, I do not wish to enhance the danger of 
' the undertaking, but shall merely tell you that 
' since Brigadier Grant's column moved down this 
' road towards Lucknow, it had been closed against 
' all Europeans ; that we were not certain if the 
' Commander-in-ChieFs camp was at Goorsahaigunge 
' (which uncertainty was verified, as you will see) ; 
' and that, to say the least of it, there was a chance 
' of our falling in with roving bands of the enemy ."^ 
' We started at 6 a.m., and reached Bewar all safe, 
' fourteen miles from our camp. Here we halted, and 
' ate sandwiches, and then leaving fifty men to stay 
' till our return, pushed on to Chibberamow, fourteen 
' miles farther on. Here we made another halt, and 
' then, leaving the remaining twenty -five men behind, 
' we pushed on by ourselves, unaccompanied, for 
' Goorsahaigunge, where we hoped to find the Com- 
' mander-in-Chief. On arriving there (a fourteen 
' miles stage), we found the Commander-in-Chief 
' was at Mermuka- Serai, fifteen miles further on. 



* The following extract from a private letter of an 
artillery officer, describing the state of the roads, will 
give some notion of the danger of this ride : — 

' Mynpoorbe, December 2gth. 
' Since the 20th of October, no letter's have passed this 

* road. The " Kossids," whose trade it is to carry letters 

* through an enemy's country, would not, and could not 
' do it, and no wonder. At one place we saw a poor 
' brute who had gone from us with a letter to the Chief, 
' and had been caught by the rebels. He was hanging 
' by the heels, had his nose cut o&, had been made a target 
' of, and roasted alive. 

' Pleasant fellows, these rebels, and worthy of all con- 
sideration.' 



commander-in-chief's camp. 333 

' This was very annoying : but there was no help 
' for itj so we struck out for it as fast as we couldj the 
' more so as we heard that the enemy, 700 strong, 
' with four guns, was within two miles of us. We 
' arrived at Mermuka- Serai at 4 a.m., and found the 
' camp there all right. We were received most 
' cordially by all, and not a little surprised were they 
' to hear where we had come from. Hodson was 
'^most warmly received by Sir Colin Campbell, and 
' was closeted with him till dinner time. Meanwhile, 
' I sought out some old friends, and amused myself 
*■ with looking at the novel sight of English sailors 
' employed with heavy guns. I also went to see the 
' Highlanders, and magnificent fellows they are, with 
' their bonnets and kilts, looking as if they could eat 
' up all the Pandies in India. A summons to the 
' Commander-in-Chief's table called me away, and ofi" 
'I went to dinner, when I found Hodson seated by 
' Sir Colin, and carrying on a most animated con- 
' versation with him. We had a very pleasant dinner, 
' and at 8 p.m. started on our long ride (fifty-four 
' miles) back. We arrived at Goorsahaigunge all safe, 
^ and pushed on at once for the next stage, Chib- 
'beramow. When we had got half way, we were 
' stopped by a native, who had been waiting in ex- 
' pectation of our return. God bless him ! I say, 
' and I am sure you will say so too when you have 
' read all. He told us that a party of the enemy had 
' attacked our twenty-five sowars at Chibberamow, 
' cut up some, and beaten back the rest, and that 
'there was a great probability some of them (the 
' enemy) were lurking about the road to our front. 
' This was pleasant news, was it not ? — twenty miles 



334 HAIRBREADTH ESCAPE. 

' from the Commander-in-ChiePs camp, thirty from 
' our own ; time, midnight ; scene, an open road ; 
' dramatis ])ersona, two oflEicers armed with swords 
' and revolvers, and a howling enemj supposed to be 
' close at hand. We deliberated what we should do, 
' and Hodson decided we should ride on at all risks. 
' " At the worst," he said, " we can gallop back ; but 
' we'll try and push through." The native came 
' with us, and we started. I have seen a few ad- 
' ventures in my time, but must confess this was the 
' most trying one I had ever engaged in. It was a 
' piercingly cold night, with a bright moon and a 
' wintry sky, and a cold wind every now and then 
' sweeping by and chilling us to the very marrow. 
^ Taking our horses off the hard road on to the side 
' where it was soft, so that the noise of their footfalls 
' could be less distinctly heard, we silently went on 
' our way, anxiously listening for every sound that 
' fell upon our ears, and straining our sight to see 
' if, behind the dark trees dotted along the road, we 
' could discern the forms of the enemy waiting in 
' ambush to seize us. It was indeed an anxious time. 
' We proceeded till close to Chibberamow. " They 
' are there," said our guide in a whisper, pointing to 
' a garden in a clump of trees to our right front. 
' Distinctly we heard a faint hum in the distance — 
' whether it was the enemy, or whether our imagi- 
' nation conjured up the sound, I know not. We 
' slowly and silently passed through the village, in 
' the main street of which we saw the dead body of 
' one of our men lying stark and stiff and ghastly in 
'the moonlight; and on emerging from the other 
' side, dismissed our faithful guide, with directions to 



HAIRBREADTH ESCAPE. 335 

' come to our camp — and then, putting spurs to our- 
' horses, we galloped for the dear life to Bewar, 
' breathing more freely as every stride bore ns away 
' from the danger now happily past. We reached 
' Bewar at about two o'clock a.m., and found a party 
' of our men sent out to look for us. Our troopers 
' had ridden in to say they had been attacked and 
' driven back, and that we had gone on alone, and all 
' concluded we must fall into the hands of the enemy. 
' We flung ourselves down on charpoys and slept till 
' daylight, when our column marched in, and we 
'received the hearty congratulations of all on our 
' escape. What do you think of it ? The man whose 
' information gave us such timely warning, and 
' thereby prevented our galloping on, by which we 
' should certainly have excited the attention of the 
' enemy, has been very handsomely rewarded and 
' obtained employment. 

' It appears from the reports afterwards received, 
' that the party that cut up our men were fugitives 
' from Etawah, where a column of ours, under General 
' Walpole, had arrived. They consisted of about 
' 1500 men, with seven guns, and were proceeding 
' to Futtypore. We rode in at one end of Chibbera- 
' mow in the morning — they rode in at the other. 
' They saw us, but we did not see them, as we were 
' on unfavourable ground. Thinking we were the 
' advanced guard of our column, they retired hastily 
' to a village some two koss off. Meanwhile, Hodson 
' and I, unconscious of their vicinity, rode on. They 
' sent out scouts, and ascertained only twenty-five 
' of our sowars were in the village, upon which they 
' resumed their march, sending a party to cut up 



336 DANGEROUS RIDE. 

' our men^ and I suppose, to wait for our return. All 
' Hodson said when we were at Bewar, and safe, was 
' " By George ! Mac, I'd give a good deal for a 
' cup of tea,'' and immediately went to sleep. He 
* is the coolest hand I have ever yet met. "We 
' rode ninety-four miles. Hodson rode seventy-two 
*■ on one horse, the little dun, and I rode Alma 
' seventy-two miles also.' 

Colonel Seaton, in a letter written shortly 
afterwards to Mrs. Hodson, thus describes the 
anxiety he felt : — 

* Mahomedabad, Jan. ^th. 

' Oh ! what a fright I was in the night before we 
' marched from Mynpooree. Your husband knew 
' that I was most anxious to communicate with the 
' Commander-in-Chief, and volunteered to ride across, 
' and as Mr. Cox said that he had most positive 
' information that the Commander-in-Chief was at 
' Goorsahaigunge, I consented. He started at day- 
' break, taking a strong party of his own regiment. 

' At sunset one of his men returned, saying that 
' he and Macdowell had left a party at Chibberamow, 
' and ridden forward ; that the party had subse- 
' quently been surprised by the enemy, and cut up. 

' At first this seemed most alarming, yet I had the 
' greatest faith in his consummate prudence and 
' skill. I knew Macdowell was with him, and I 
' said to myself, " If those two are not sharp enough 

' to dodge the black fellows, why the d is in it." , 

' But still I could not help feeling most uneasy, and 
' saying, " Oh ! dear, what should I say to his poor 
' wife." I did not sleep one wink all night. In the 



rUTTEHGURH. 337 

' morning a sowar galloped in with a note from liim. 
' Oh ! what a relief to my mind. 

' The day before -yesterday we rode over together to 
' the Commander-in-Chiefs camp at Goorsahaigunge, 
* and found he had moved on four miles beyond the 
' Kalee Nuddu. We folio wed_, and came in- for the 
' tail of a fight J as there were still some dropping shots. 
' I was received with great cordiality by the Com- 
' mander-in- Chief, and warmly congratulated on our 
' successes. 

' Your gallant husband has now left me, and I find it 
' most painful to part, for he is a warm friend and 
' true soldier ; always ready with his pen, his sword, 
' or his counsel at my slightest wish ; indeed, he often 
' anticipated my wishes, as if he could divine what I 
^ wanted. I missed his cheerful manly face at my 
' breakfast this morning, and am not in a good 
' humour at all to-day.' 

On tlie 6tli Colonel Seaton's column, with 
their convoy, joined the Commander-in-Chief, 
and were merged in his forces. Head-quarters 
were established at Futtehgurh, which had sur- 
rendered without flighting. 

On the night of the 26th January,* a force 



* Mr. Charles Raikes, in his interesting N'otes on the 
Revolt, p. 109, says : — ' At night I warned Mr. Power for 
' duty, to go out with the Brigade. I found it difficult to 
' convince him that 2000 men quietly slumbering around, 
' would in the course of half-an-hour be under arms, and 

* on the march to attack the enemy. Scarce a creature 

* in the camp, save General Mansfield, Adrian Hope, 
' Hodson, and I, knew the plans of the Commander-in- 



338 WOUNDS AT SHUMSHABAD. 

under the command of Brigadier Adrian Hope, 
93rd Highlanders, were sent out from Futteh- 
gurh to attack a large body of rebels assembled 
at Shumshabad, about twelve miles from the 
city, where they arrived the next morning. 
The expedition was completely successful in its 
objects, but it was an ill-starred day for 
' Hodson's Horse.' They distinguished them- 
selves highly as usual, but earned their distinc- 
tion dearly by the loss they in officers sustained, 
killed or wounded, as the following letter will 
show : — 

Camp, Futtehgueh, Jan. gis^, 1858. 
{Written with left hand.) 
My usual fortune deserted me on the 27th, at 
Shumshabad, for I got two sabre-cuts on noy right 
arm, which have reduced me to this very sinister 
style of writing (absit omen). We had a very stiff 
fight of it, as we were far in advance of the rest of 
the troops, and had to charge a very superior body of 
the mutineer cavalry ; but there was nothing for it 
but fighting, as, had we not attacked them, they 
would have got in amongst our guns. We were 
only three oflScers, and about 180 horsemen — my 



' Chief. The men had gone to bed as iisual, when quietly 
* orders were issued, and by half-past ten, Hope, with his 
' Brigade, was on his march.' He then gives several 
amusing native accounts of the action at Shumshabad, 
and afterwards adds — ' Rode to see Hodson ; he is much 
' cut up about Macdo well's loss, bub treats his own 
' wounds very lightly. Being in his sword arm, we shall 
^ lose his invaluable services for a time.' 



LIEUTENANT MACDOWELL KILLED. 339 

poor friend and second in command,'^ Maedovvell^ 
having received a mortal wound a few minutes before 
we charged. It was a terrible melee for some time, 
and we were most wonderfully preserved. However, 
we gave them a very proper thrashing, and killed 
their leaders. Two out of the three of us were 
wounded, and five of my men killed and eleven 
wounded, besides eleven horses. My horse had three 
sabre-cuts, and I got two, which I consider a rather 
unfair share. The Commander-in-Chief is very well 
satisfied, I hear, with the day^s work, and is profusely 
civil and kind to me. The force moves on to-morrow 
towards Cawnpore and Lucknow, which has at last to 
be conquered ; for neither Outram, Havelock, nor the 
Commander-in-Chief was able to efiect a footing in 
Lucknow. All they could do was to bring away the 
E/esidericy garrison. All the lion's share of the work 
in tbe six weeks which intervened between the soi- 
disant relief of the Lucknow garrison by Havelock^ 
and the real one by the Commander-in-Chief, was 



* Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, and son of the late 
James Macdowell, Esq., of Bengal Medical Service, born 
29th October, 1829, appointed to Honourable East India 
Company's Service, 1846. Served in Punjab campaign 
of 1848-9, including passage of Chenab at Eamnuggur, 
and battles of Chillian wallah and Goojerat, in which he 
carried the colours of liis regiment, 2nd Bengal European 
Fusiliers (medal and clasp). Served in Burmah, marched 
with his regiment to Delhi, and served with it in various 
engagements, till in August he was appointed second in 
command of Hodson's Horse. 

' This excellent officer, who was Captain Hodson's 
' second in command, and right-hand man, sunk under 

* his wound, to the sorrow of all who knew his rare 

* value as a soldier.' — Raikes' Notes. 

Z % 



340 NAPIER AND TOMBS. 

done by our friend Colonel Napier. He is the best 
man we have leffc^ now that poor Sir Henry Lawrence 
and Nicholson are gone. The next is Major Tombs, 

or I am much mistaken I hope to return to 

IJmbala when this war is over^ to be refitted and get 
my men trained and drilled, which is very necessary. 
I do hope to be able to get home and see your dear 
faces once more, as soon as our great task is accom- 
plished. I want a change after twelve years of 
work, and I want to try what home and good treat- 
ment will do for my ankle, which is very bad; in 
fact, I am unable to walk a hundred yards without 
pain. "Well, I think I have done pretty well with 
my left hand. They say I shall be well in six weeks. 
/ say in ten days ; I trust so.'^ 

A fuller account was given a fortnight 

later : — 

Camp, opposite Cawnpoee, Feh. 12th. 
Until to-day I have been unable to use my arm 
sufficiently even for this attempt at calligraphy, and 
I can only write with difficulty now. I received two 
sabre-cuts on the 27th, in a hand-to-hand business 
we got into near Shumshabad. I was on a-head with 



* Letter from an Officer. Futteligurh, Jan. ^otk : — 
* Did I tell you that the Corporal of the Lancers tied up 
' the artery, and dressed his (Hodsbn's) wound 1 

' Just before the Commander-in-Chief marched, a depu- 
' tation of the men of the Carabineers, headed by theu* 
' Serjeant-Major, went to Hodson to express their regret 
' at his wounds, and hope he would soon be in the field 
' to lead them again. He thinks more of this than any 
' of the Commander-in-Chief's notice, though he pets him 
' greatly.' 



ACTION AT SHUMSHABAD. 341 

a few men^ showing Remington (Horse Artillery) the 
road over a nullah for his guns, and pushed on in sup- 
port of him to within 500 yards of a very strong 
position, occupied by about 5000 fanatics from Bareilly. 
As soon as the guns opened on the enemy, a large 
body of cavalry (men of our old Hindoostanee Irregu- 
lars) came down boldly at the guns, and I was obliged 
to charge them at once, to save the guns. They were 
very superior in number, and individually so as horse- 
men and swordsmen, but we managed to ' whop ' them 
all the same, and drive them clean off the field ; not, 
however, until they had made two very pretty dashes 
at us, which cost us some trouble and very hard 
fighting. It was the hardest thing of the kind in 
which I ever was engaged, in point of regular * in 
fighting, as they say in the P.R. : only Bell's Life 
could describe it properly.^ I got a cut, which laid my 
thumb open, from a fellow after my sword was through 
him, and about half an hour later this caused me 
to get a second severe cut, which divided the muscles 
of the right arm and put me Jiors cle combat ; for my 
grip on the sword-handle was weakened and a demon 
on foot succeeded in striking down my guard, or 
rather his tulwar glanced off my guard on to my arm. 



* Extract from Despatch from Captain Cox, Com- 
manding Cavalry, to Brigadier A. Hope, &c. : — 

' Sir, — I have the honour to submit to you the part 

* taken by the cavalry under my command, consisting of 

* 196 men of the 9th Lancers under Captain Steele and 

* 230 men of Hodson's Horse, in the operations at Shum- 

* shabad. 

* The enemy's position having been ascertained. Captain 
^ Remington's troop of Horse Artillery was ordered by 

* you to cross the bridge over the nullah and attack their 



342 ACTION AT SHUMSHABAD. 

My horse also got three cuts. I have got well most 
rapidly^ despite an attack of erysipelas, which looked 
very nasty for three days, and some slight fever ; and 
I have every reason to he thankful. I hope to he in 
' at the death ' yet. We move on towards Lucknow 
to-morrow. I hope to he ahle to ride in a couple of days. 
I promised the King his life, simply because there 



' right flank. Captain Hodson's regiment was sent in 
' support ; this point, however, was not gained without loss 

* — Lieutenant Macdowell was struck down by a round 
' shot and mortally wounded, and one man and horse 
' of the pth Lancers killed. 

' In Lieutenant Macdowell the service has lost a gallant 

* and valuable officer. 

' On reaching the right flank of the enemy, their 
' cavalry was observed in considerable force to our front 
' and left. Captain Hodson immediately advanced his 

* regiment, and attacking them with his accustomed 

* gallantry, completely routed them, many of their dead 
' being left on the fleld. I regret to state that both 

* Captain Hodson and Lieutenant Gough of his regiment 
' were wounded. 

' The precision of the artillery fire having partially 
' dislodged the rebels from their entrenched position, the 
' pth Lancers were ordered to advance to the support of 
' Hodson's Horse, who were already engaged with parties 
' of their broken infantry, one squadron being left in 

* reserve, as a detached portion of the enemy's cavalry 
' still threatened the guns. 

' The attack to the front now became general, and was 

* entirely successful, though not unattended with loss. 

* Captain Hodson, who had persevered, in spite of his 

* wound, was again wounded, and this time severely, and 

* compelled to resign command to Lieutenant Wise, who 

* ably led the regiment for the remainder of the day. 

'Captain Steel, commanding the detachment of the 

* pth Lancers, whilst gallantly charging at the head of his 

* men, was severely wounded ; Lieutenant Wills, of the 
' same corps, slightly.' 



RECOVERY FROM WOUNDS. 343 

was no other way of catching him open to me. 
Wilson refused to send troops in pursuit of him^ and 
the old rascal had got a long way on with the rebels. 
It was only by guaranteeing his life that I could 
bring him back from the Kootub to Humayoon's 
Tombj and then went out and brought him in. As 
events proved, it was right. Had he got away then, 
the whole country would have flocked to his standard, 
and we should have very probably been surrounded 
in Delhi, or at least the pacification of the country 
would have been put off indefinitely. It is easy to 
cry out after the event ; at the time they were childishly 
overjoyed at getting him on any terms ; and without 
vanity I believe I was the only man in camp who 
would have tried it on under the then circumstances. 
The old rascal will not trouble us long. 

To his Bister. 

Gamp on the left bank of the Ganges, 
OPPOSITE Gawnpoee, Feh. i2th. 
To-day, for the first time, I am able to use my right 
hand again, shakingly you will see ; but considering 
that only seventeen days have elapsed since I was 
wounded, I have every reason to be thankful for so 
speedy a recovery. A pen is about the biggest thing 
I can wield, and I am not yet allowed to ride, but 
in other respects I am as well as if my thumb liad 
not been nearly bifurcated, and my arm bisected, 
little more than a fortnight ago. I should have been 
more nearly well even, had it not been for an insidious 
attack of erysipelas which seized on the maimed limb 
and nearly finished it off altogether. However, 
that evil even, added to a slight bout of fever, pro- 



344 APPROACH OF PINAL STRUGGLE. 

videntially did me no furtlier liarm tlian delaying the 
cure; and I trust, if all goes on well, to be able to 
take the field again within the week. We are 
gradually collecting for the last grand finale (I 
sincerely hope) of this terrible tragedy, the conquest of 
Lucknow. Sir Colin is to follow us in a day or 
two, and then the curtain will rise. I have no 
patience with your penny-a-liners at home and the 
mistakes (or lies) they palm off on that dear British 
public. I see they say Sir Colin had 13,000 or 32,000 
men with him when he ' relieved ' Lucknow before, 
i.e., when he succeeded in bringing away the garrison 
which poor Havelock was supposed to have saved. 
In fact, he had only 4000 men ! and we shall not 
now, after all this time, have more than 13,000 men 
of all arms, European and native ; and we have to 
drive 50,000 of our own Sepoys, /)/??«5 100,000 armed 
men, from the provinces, from the largest and one 
of the strongest cities in Upper India. 

Mr. Russell reached Cawnpore yesterday. We 
shall see if he gets to the truth now. He will see 
some hard knooks I fancy. I hope my left-handed 
note from Futtehgurh would reach you before any 
other tidings that I was hurt, and that you vrould 
thus have been spared anxiety on my account. I was 
fortunately able to send dearest Susie timely notice 
by telegraph, and thus to save her much terroi", and 
I have managed a sinister scrawl every day ; added 
to which, my friends have been most kind in writing 
to her. I have every hope now of being with you 
all by this time nest year at latest. We are to have 
the Delhi prize-money in spite of Lord Canning's 
efibrts to prevent it, and my share will pay my 



CAMP OONAO. 345 

passage home and back again, I think. How I 
shall enjoy a visit to all you dear ones after this 
long banishment ! 

Not withstanding his wounds, Captain Hod- 
son was able to accompany the Commander- 
in-Chiefs force when it marched from Puttey- 
ghur to Cawnpore, Colonel Burn kindly driving 
him in his dog-cart. On his arrival at 
Cawnpore, he was sent, by the kind conside- 
ration of Sir Colin, to a camp on the opposite 
side of the river, to secure a better air. In 
the course of a few days he went on with a 
detachment of his horse to Oonao, one march 
further on the road to Lucknow. 

Nothing could exceed Sir Colin's kind 
attentions. In one of his visits to him in 
camp at Oonao he drank his health as Colonel 
Hodson; on which my brother remarked, how 
little he expected such promotion as that, for 
though Lord Dalhousie had promised him his 
majority for the Punjaub campaign of 1848-9, 
yet that, as it had never been put on record 
officially, he had no hope of getting more than 
that for Delhi. To this Sir Colin replied : 
' If it was promised, that is quite enough. / 

* will see that it is all arranged ; just make a 

* memorandum of your services during the 

* Punjab war, and I ventm'e to prophesy that 

* it will not be long before I shake hands with 



346 JEU d'esprit. 

' you as Lieutenant-Colonel Hodson, C.B., with 
' a Victoria Cross to boot.' At this time the 
Gazette with the honours for Delhi had not 
reached Cawnpore. 

In a letter at this time my brother gives 
the following anecdote : — 

A soldier wrote up ou the walls of the Delhi palace 
(alluding to Lord Canuiug^s foolish order about six 
months^ donation of batta^ which is hut thirty-six 
rupees and some odd pence for each man) : — 

^ For the salvation of India the British soldier gets 
' thirty-six rupees ten annas^ or one rupee one anna 
' per battle / adding : — 

' When danger's rife and wars are nigh, 
* God and the soldier's all the cry : 
' When wars are o'er and matters righted, 
' God is forgotten and the soldier slighted.' 

Would you credit it? The Calcutta wiseacres sent 
up orders to institute a strict inquiry who wrote this 
jeu d'esprit. What nuts for the rascal who did it to 
see how deep his hit had rankled ! 

Colonel Napier passed through our camp this 
morning without my knowing it, or his knowing I 
was here. I hope, however, to see him in a day or 
two. He is to superintend all the engineering works 
before Lucknow as Brigadier and Chief Engineer. 

Before the end of the month Hodson's 
Horse had again an opportunity of distin- 
guishing themselves, having been meanwhile 
advanced nearer to Lucknow. The rebels had 



ACTION AT JELLALABAD. 347 

made an attack in considerable force on the 
fort of Jellalabad, about a mile to the right of 
the camp at the Alumbagh ; but after suffering 
severely from the fire of the Horse Artillery, 
they were charged in admirable style by 
Hodson's Horse and the military train, who 
drove them back with very great loss, and 
captured four guns. 

On this occasion my brother saved the life 
of his Adjutant, Lieutenant Grough, by cutting 
down a rebel trooper in the very act of spearing 
him. 



CONCLUDINa CHAPTEB. 

LUCKNOW, THE BEGUM^S PALACE. BANKs' HOUSE. 

THE soldier's DEATH. 

T HAVE no intention of attempting any 
detailed account of the siege operations 
before Lucknow. They commenced with, the 
throwing two bridges across the river (on the 
5th), and sending a force under General 
Outram to the other side. On the 9th the 
Martiniere was stormed : on the following day 
the enemy's first line of works on the canal was 
abandoned : our batteries were then advanced 
across the canal, and Banks' House, immediately 
opposite to the Begum's Palace (or Kotee), and 
within musket range, was occupied. 

On the afternoon of the nth Major Hod- 
son received orders to move his regiment 
nearer to the city walls. Having given direc- 
tions to his Adjutant, Lieutenant Grough, he 
said he would ride on and look out a nice spot 
for their new camping ground, and be back 
in time to march with them. On his way he 
heard firing, and riding forward, found that the 



ASSAULT ON BEGUm's PALACE. 349 

Begum's Palace was to be attacked. He 
immediately rode to the place, and finding his 
friend Brigadier Napier directing the attack, 
said laughingly, ' I am come to take care of 

* you; you have no business to go to work with- 
/ out me to look after you.' The assault was 
successful.* He entered the breach with 
General Napier and several others. In a few 
minutes they were separated in the melee, and 
General Napier saw nothing more of him till 
he was sent for to him 'dangerously wounded.' 
The Surgeon of his regiment gives the follow- 
ing account : — 

* We struck our tents and were saddled^ waiting for 
' him till it became so dark that we were forced to go 

* without him^ and reached our ground after sunset. 
' I had gone to the post-office and was five minutes 
' behind the regiment. When I came up, I found that 
' Hodson^s orderly had come in great haste, saying that 
' his master had sent for me^ but with no other 
^ message. He said that his master had been hit 
' when advancing with the troops on the Begum's 
' Kotee on foot. 



* At the Begum's Palace the defences were found, 
after the capture of the place, so much stronger than 
could he observed or had been believed, that the General 
said that, had he known what lay before the assaulting 
column, he should have hesitated to give the order for 
advance. They went at it, however, with a rush — the 
93rd Highlanders and 4th Punjab Rifles, old comrades at 
the Secundrabagh — and carried it. 



350 MAJOR HODSON SHOT. 

' I mounted and rode off witli him at once. From 
' the darkness of the night and the difficulty of passing 
' the Ghoorka sentries, I did not get to Delkooshah 

* till 9 P.M. There no one knew where he was. I then 
' went on to the artillery mess and learnt that he was 
' in Banks' House, which I reached about lo p.m. I 
' found him in a dooly and Dr. Sutherland with him, 
' whom I at once relieved, and learnt the following par- 
' ticulars from him and from the orderly who remained 
' with Hodson, and who had been by his side when 
'hit. He had arrived at Banks' House just as the 
' party going to attack the Begum's palace were 
' starting, and fell in with them. The place had been 
' taken before he was wounded. When the soldiers 
' were searching for concealed Sepoys in the court- 
' yard and buildings adjoining, he said to his orderly, 
^ " I wonder if any of the rascals are in there." He 
' turned the angle of the passage; looked into a dark 
' room, which was full of Sepoys ; a shot was fired 
' from inside. He staggered back some paces and 
' then fell. A party of Highlanders, hearing who 
' had been hit, rushed into the room and bayoneted 
'■ every man there. 

• ' The orderly, a large powerful Sikh, carried him in 
' his arms out of danger, and got a dooly and brought 
' him back to Banks' House, where his wound was 
' looked to and dressed. 

' He was shot through the right side of the chest, 
' in the region of the liver, the ball entering in front 
' and going out behind. There had been profuse 
c bleeding, and I saw that the wound was most likely 
< mortal. 

' He was very glad to see me, and began talking 



LAST HOURS. 351 

' of his wound, which he thought himself was mortal. 
' T lay heside him on the ground all night, holding 
' his hand, on account of the great pain he suffered. 
' He was very weak when I arrived, but by means of 
' stimulants rallied wonderfully, and slept for an hour 
' or two during the night. At daylight he was much 
' better, his hands were warm and his pulse good, 
' and I had hopes that, if the bleeding, which had 
' ceased, did not return, he might recover. He drank 

* two cups of tea, and said he felt very well. His 
' account of his being wounded agreed with the 
' orderly's. 

' About 9 A.M. I had the dooly lifted into a room, 
' which 1 had had cleared out, where he was much 
' quieter. At lo a.m., however, bleeding came on 
' again profusely, and he rapidly became worse. I told 
' him that recovery was impossible. He then sent 
' for General Napier, to whom he gave directions 
' about his property and messages to his wife. After 
' this he rapidly sank, though he remained sensible 
' and was able to speak till a quarter past one, when 

* he became too weak ; and at twenty-five minutes past 
' one died. 

' His orderly"^ actually cried over him, he was so 
' attached to him. 

' He was buried that evening by the Eev. W. 
' Clarke. The Commander-in-Chief and his staff 
' were present.' 

* This oi'derly afterwards travelled to Simla at his own 
expense to see Mrs. Hodson, and beg to be taken into 
her service and go to England with her. The men of his 
regiment cried like children when they heard the news of 
his death. 



352 CLOSING SCftNE. 

Greneral Napier says, in a letter to Mrs. 
Hodson : — ■ 

' I regret bitterly now, that I did not insist on 

* your dear husband going back, but you know how 
' impossible it was to check his dauntless spirit. 

. . . . ' He lay on his bed of mortal agony and 
' met death with the same calm composure which so 
' much distinguished him on the field of battle. He 
' was quite conscious and peaceful, occasionally utter- 
' ing a sentence — 

' " My poor wife," " My poor sisters." 
' " I should have liked to see the end of the cam- 
' '' paign and gone home to the dear ones once more, 
' " but it was so ordered." 

* '^It is hard to lea\re the world just now, when 
^ " success is so near, but God's will be done." 

^ " Bear witness for me that I have tried to do my 
' '^duty to man. May God forgive my sins for 
' " Christ's sake." " I go to my Father." 

* " My love to my wife ; tell her my last thoughts 
' " were of her." " Lord, receive my soul." 

* These were his last words, and without a sigh or 
' struggle his pure and noble spirit took its flight.' 

Thus, on tlie i2tli of March, 1858, in his 
thirty- seventh year, closed the earthly career of 
one of the best and bravest of England's sons, 
one of her truest heroes, of whom it may be 
said — ' Quanquam medio in spatio integrae 

* setatis ereptus, quantum ad gloriam longissi- 

* mum sevum peregit.' 

Grreat and irreparable as was his loss to 



TESTIMONY OF SIR COLIN CAMPBELL. 353 

his family and liis friends, as a husband, a 
brother, and a friend, I believe that, at the 
particular juncture at which he was taken 
away, it was still greater, as a soldier, to his 
country. It would be difficult to over-esti- 
mate the value of the services which he might 
have rendered, if spared, in the pacifying of 
Oude after the capture of Lucknow, or the 
influence which he might have had on the 
fortunes of the war. One of those best qualified 
to judge declared that ' Hodson with his regi- 
' ment would have been worth 10,000 men.' His 
peculiar qualifications for Asiatic warfare would 
have found an appropriate field for their display. 

It is unnecessary, however, for me to attempt 
to pronounce his eulogium. This has been 
done by those more capable of forming an 
estimate of his rare excellence as a soldier, 
and of doing it justice by their words. 

Sir Colin Campbell, in a letter of condolence 
to his widow, thus expressed himself : — 

March i^th, 1858. 
' I followed your noble husband to the grave 
' myself, in order to mark, in the most public 
' manner, my regret and esteem for the most brilliant 
' soldier under my command, and one whom I was 
' proud to call my friend.^ 

An officer who was present at the funeral 
says : — 

A A 



354 EXPRESSIONS OF KEGRET. 

' When the part of the service came where the 
' body is lowered into the gravCj all the old warrior's 
' courage and self-possession could no longer control 
' the tears — undeniable evidence of what he felt. ^' I 
' " have lost one of the finest officers in the army/^ was 
' his remark to General Napier/ 

Even Sir Jolin Lawrence, no friendly judge, 
pronounced him in an oflBcial paper to be — 

^One of the ablest, most active^ and bravest 
' soldiers who have fallen in the present war/ 

I shall best give an idea of the universal 
feeling of regret awakened at the tidings of his 
death by subjoining a few extracts from the 
public press at home and abroad, and from 
private letters. The Bombay correspondent of 
the Times, after detailing the assault on the 
Begum's Palace, wrote thus : — 

' At this point fell mortally wounded Hodson 
' of the 1st Bengal Fusiliers, Hodson of Hodson's 
' Horse, Hodson the captor of the King of Delhi 
' and the princes of his house. Pew of the 
* many losses that have occurred during the opera- 
' tions consequent upon the mutinies, have caused 
' such universal regret throughout India as the death 
' of this excellent officer ; and among those in 
' England who have read of and admired his exploits, 
' not only his comrades of the Sikh battlefields, but 
' many an old friend at Rugby or at Trinity will 
' mourn that his career has been thus early closed.' 

The Times, in a leading article, thus 
announced his death : — 



EXTRACTS FROM NEWSPAPERS. 355 

' The country will receive with lively regret the 
'news that the gallant Major Hodson, who has 
' given his name to an invincible and almost 
' ubiquitous body of cavalry^ was killed in the attacl? 
' on Lucknow. Major Hodson has been from the 
' very beginning of this war fighting everywhere and 
' against any odds with all the spirit of a Paladin of 
' old. His most remarkable exploit^ the capture of 
' the King of Delhi and his two sons^ astonished the 
' world by its courage and coolness. Hodson was^ 
' indeed_, a man who^ from his romantic daring and 
' his knowledge of the Asiatic character^ was able to 
' beat the natives at their own weapons. We could 
' better have spared an older and more highly placed 
' officer.' 

The following notice appeared in a Bombay 
paper : — 

' From a Lucknow letter which we publish to-day 
' our readers will learn^ with sorrow and regret, that 
' that most able and gallant officer, Captain Hodson, 
' who has distinguished himself on so many occasions 
'■ since the breaking out of the rebellion, and whose 
' services have been of so brilliant and valuable a 
' character, has been killed at Lucknow. As a leader 
' of L-regular Horse, or indeed as a soldier of any of 
' the non-scientific forces. Captain Hodson was 
' almost without an equal. He was one of those 
' squadron leaders which the Indian army can alone 
' rear up. There are few men who would have 
' managed the capture of the ex-King of Delhi as 
' this departed hero did. On that occasion his force 
' was small compared to that he had to cope with, 

A A 2 



356 NOTICES OF DEATH. 

' but the determined daring of the man made up for 
' the disparity^ and the old King came out of his 
' fortification — for a strong- fortification it was — and 
' surrendered. So also with the capture of the 
"^ King's sons^ who also surrendered themselves^ but 
' whom Hodson found rescued when he reached 
' them, after having completed the disarming of their 
' band. That was a moment to test a man. But 
' he of whom we write was equal to the emergency. 
' The carts in which the princes were, were retaken 
' immediately. Still the aspect of the armed 
' Mahomedan crowd around — growing every moment 
' more numerous — was dark and threatening. It was 
' a situation which required prompt decision, and 
' promptly did the British leader decide. He saw 
' that it was necessary that his prisoners should die, 
' and resolved himself to become their executioner : a 
' wise resolve, for probably, had he asked one of his 
' own Mahomedan troopers to kill the sons of the 
' Mogul, a refusal would have followed, and that 
' refusal might have been acted up to by all. He 
' adopted the wiser course, harangued his men, 
' ordered the prisoners to take off their robes in the 
' cart, and shot them with his own hand. Had the 
^ .prisoners been allowed to leave the cart, their bodies 
' would have been left behind; for to touch them 
' would, by the troopers, have been considered defile- 
' ment, and, left behind, they might have been fanati- 
' cally paraded through the country as an incitement 
' to a fresh rising. Besides, it was necessary that 
' their remains should be exposed at the Kotwallie in 
' Delhi with something of the indignity they them- 
' selves had caujcd to be inflicted on the murdered 
' victims of the nth of May/ 



* Blackwood's magazine.' 357 

Another published a letter with this sen- 
tence : — 

^ Hodson, splendid fellow^ died the following day, 
' most deeply regretted by all ranks in his regiment. 
' He indeed was a brave soldier^ a clever and truly 
' esteemed commander. May we not say he was 
' one of the flowers of the '^ old Europeans/' and an 
' ornament to the Bengal army T 

The writer (in Blackwood' s Magazine) of 
a series of papers on the ist Fusiliers, 

says : — 

' Then fell one of the bravest in the Indian army^ 
^ an officer whose name has been brought too often 
' before the public by those in high command to need 
' my humble word in praise. There was not a man 
' before Delhi who did not know Hodson ; always 
' active^ always cheery, it did one's heart good to look 
' at his face, when all felt how critical was our 
' position. Ask any soldier who was the bravest 
^ man before Delhi, v»^ho most in the saddle, who 
' foremost ? and nine out of ten in the Infantry will 
' tell you Hodson, in the Artillery as many will name 
^ Tombs. 

'' I once heard one of the Fusiliers say, " Whenever 
' " I sees Captain Hodson go out, I always prays for 
' " him, for he is sure to be in danger." Yet it was 
' not only in the field that Hodson was to be valued, 
' his head was as active as his hand was strong, and 
•^ I feel sure, when we who knew him heard of his death, 
' not one but felt that there was a vacancy indeed in 
' our ranks.' 



358 NOTICES OF DEATH. 

The 2\mes correspondent (Mr. Eussell), in 
his letter of March 13th, writes : — 

' When I returned to head-quarters camp this 
' evenin^j I found that poor Hodson had died the 
' previous day^ and been buried the same evening. 

' He was a zealous and accomplished officer, of 
' great bravery, ability, and determination, an excel- 
' lent judge of the native character, of a humane and 
' clement disposition, but firm in the infliction, of 
' deserved punishment. 

' The last time I saw him alive he expressed a 
' decided opinion that Government must resort to an 
' amnesty} or be prepared for a long continuance of 
' distiu'bances.^ 

From the Delhi Gazette : — 

* He was a perfect gentleman, an accomplished 
' scholar, and we need scarcely add (what our columns 
' have so often recorded), one of the most brilliant 
' soldiers in this or any other army. His death is 
' not only a severe family affliction, but a national 
' calamity, and it will be long before the name of the 
' capturer of the King and princes of Delhi will 
' cease to be mentioned with honour, and remembered 
'with regret.^ 

From private letters of condolence, which 
would fill a volume, I select a few passages, in 
which the writers seem to have seized with 
great felicity upon some of the more remark- 
able features in my brother's character and 
actions. 



PRIVATE LETTERS. 359 

' It is hard to lose one upon whom all eyes were 
' fixed, and whose noble qualities seemed so certain 
' of recognition, and of speedy advancement to such 
' employments as his fine natural abilities well fitted 
' him to discharge. 

' The very presence of such a man in India was an 
' element of power apart from all ofiicial rank, and he 
' could ill be spared from among the very few who 
' have learnt to impersonate in themselves the power 
' of the English nation, and to let the natives of 
^ India feel the irresistible character of that power. 
' You must have watched him so anxiously and so 
' proudly that, though thousands of us have done the 
' same, none can approach the measure of your sorrow 
' or mourn as you that he can confer no more honour 
' on your name, but that the opportunities of the 
' future must be reaped by other and less capable 
' hands .^ 



' I cannot feel easy without expressing to you the 
' great grief and consternation with which I read the 
' account of your brother's death. Certainly it would 
' have been little less than miraculous if, being what 
' he was, he had lived out this war. And yet I, fnr 
' one, had always cherished a hope that I might have 
' seen once more with my own eyes so noble and 
' gallant a soldier. 

'"There is, after all, something about skilful cou- 
' rage which draws the heart to itself more than 
' eloquence, or learning, or anything else, and your 
' brother seems to have been endued with this almost 
' more than any living Englishman, brave as our 
' countrymen are.' 



360 EXPUESSTONS OF REGRET. 

' Closely have I watched^ during- these last few sad 
' months^ the career of that brave brother of yours. I 
' could estimate his hold and self-sacrificiug courage, 
' and knowing as I did the sort of people over whom 
' he had acquired such perfect sway^ I knew how 
' much a clear and commandiug intellect must have 
' been called into exercise, to aid a strong and de- 
' voted heart. What victims has Lucknow offered 
' up to the fiendish treachery of those ungrateful men 
' — Lawrence ! Havelock ! and Hodson ! ' 



' My grief is not for him ; he had done his work 
' in that station of life in which God had placed 
' him, nobly, heartily, and as in the sight of God 
' (would that we all did our work in half such a 
' Christian spirit) ; but for you all, who were looking 
' forward to seeing him again, crowned with the 
' honours he had so hardly won. Well, it has please'd 
' God that this was not to be ; but there is a good 
' hope, more than a hope, that a reward of a higher 
' hind is his.' 

From one who liad known him in India : — 

' From the love and esteem I bore your brother 
' you will, I feel sure, allow me to write and express, 
' however imperfectly words can do it, my deep 
' and heartfelt sympathy with you and your sisters 
' under this heavy blow. Our acquaintance was not 
' of long standing, but had rapidly ripened into 
' intimacy, and I look back to the days spent in 
' his society as amongst my happiest in India. His 
' very presence was sunshine. 

' Of my admiration for his talents, and the service 



PRIVATE LETTERS. 361 

' he rendered his country^ it would be impertinent 
' to speak — they are of public note ; but of the 
' tender sympathies, the ready advice, the forgetful- 
' ness of self and the ever-mindfulness of others, I 
' may testify. His was indeed a rare and beautiful 
' character, and the better he was known the more 
' he could not fail to be appreciated.^ 

I will add one more letter from Greneral 
Johnstone, which will show that even to the 
last my brother was pursued by the same 
jealousy and malignity which had caused him 
so much suffering in former years : — 

' He was too noble to pass through the world 
' without detractors. The ambitious and brave envied 
' him, because the brilliancy of his acts put theirs 
' in the shade ; I mean, those not possessed of the 
^ disinterestedness of Christians. 

' The mean and despicable hated him because they 
' quailed before the eagle eye that could endure neither 
' dishonesty nor cowardice. Their base slanders were 
' in whispers during his life ; now that his gallant 
' spirit is gone they come forward in unblushing 
' malignity. I heard the whispers only : my indig- 
^ nation at learning the baseness with which this true 
' hero has been treated is beyond all my powers of 
' expression.^ 

Some of my readers may be interested in a 
description of Major Hodson's personal appear- 
ance and manner, given in a letter describing 



362 PERSONAL DESCRIPTION. 

a visit wMcli lie paid the writer a few years 
previously at Calcutta : — 

' He was remarkably well made, lithe^ and agile ; 
' in height about five feet eleven inches. His hair 
' had slightly receded from a high and most intel- 
' lectual forehead, and was light and curly. His 
' eyes were blue, but animated by a peculiarly deter- 
' mined, and sometimes even fierce look, which would 
' change to one of mischievous merriment, for he 
' was keenly susceptible of the ridiculous, in what- 
' ever shape it presented itself ; but usually his look 
' impressed me at once with that idea of his deter- 
' mination and firmness which have ever characterized 
' his actions. His nose was inclining to the aquiline, 
' and the curved, thin nostrils added a look of defiance 
' in noways counteracted by the compressed lips, 
' which seemed to denote many an inward struggle 
' between duty and inclination. These are my im- 
' pressions of Hodson as I last saw him ; and if you 
' add to this an open, frank manner, that, hongre 
' malgrS, impressed you favourably at first sight with 
^ the owner, you will have the charming ensemble 
' that presides over my recollections of three as happy 
' weeks as I ever passed.' 

As a pendant to this portrait I give another 
from a lady's pen, drawn more recently : — 

' There was an indescribable charm of manner 
' about him, combining all the gentle playfulness of 
' the boy, the deep tenderness of the woman, and the 
' vigorous decision of the soldier. 

' His powers of attraction extended even to animals ; 



PERSONAL DESCllIPTION. 363 

' and it was touching to see his large white Persian 
' cat following him from room to room^, escaping from 
' the caresses of others to nestle by him. I have 
' often watched the pretty creature as he threw him- 
' self, exhausted with the day's work, on an easy 
' chair or sofa, rubbing himself against his master, 
' whisking the long white tail against his fair 
' moustache, and courting the endearments liberally 
' bestowed. Restless with others, pussy was at rest 
' if established by him. 

' At Delhi there was a wild, shy little kitten, which 
' fled from every one else, but mewed provokingly 
^ whenever he appeared — would jump on his knee 
' with all the familiarity of an old friend. 

' With his horses he had the same power of domes- 
' tication. They yielded to the sound of his voice 
' with the instinct that seemed to convey to all that 
' in him they had found master and friend. 

' Over the natives that influence seemed almost 
' magic. When at Umballa, on ten days' leave, in 
' November last, the wounded and convalescent Guides 
' (his old corps) were all day straying into the com- 
' pound simply to " salaam" the " Sahib." And if, 
' when lingering on the steps, or in front of the 
' study door, they were questioned what they wanted 
' their answer would be, " Nothing ; they liked to 
' "look at the Sahib." And so they hung about his 
'steps, and watched like so many faithful dogs. 
'Especially there was an Affghan boy (he had once 
' been a slave), whose very soul seemed bound up in 
' the master who had rescued him from his degraded 
' position, and for whom every service seemed light. 
' He would watch his master's movements with a 



364 UNRECOGNISED SERVICES. 

' look of very worship^ as if the ground were not good 
' enough for him to tread. 

' His joyousness of nature made him the most 
' charming companion. There was a certain quaint- 
' ness of expression which gave zest to all he said ; 
* and yet there was a reverence^ too^ so that^ were sub- 
' jects graver than usual introduced even by allusion^ 
' they at once commanded his earnest response.^ 

It will doubtless excite surprise, perchance 
indignation, that one whom the Commander- 
in-Chief pronounced ' the most brilliant 
' soldier under his command' — one whom all 
ranks of the army in India reckoned amongst 
their bravest and most skilful leaders — one 
whom the popular voice has already en- 
rolled amongst the heroes of the nation — one 
whose name was ' known, either in love or fear, 
by every native from Calcutta to Cabul,' — 
should have received, with the exception of a 
brevet majority (to which he was entitled for 
services in 1849), no mark of his Sovereign's 
approbation, no recognition of gallant services 
and deeds of daring, one-tenth part of w^hich 
would have covered many of fortune's favourites 
with decorations. 

That recognition, however, which was 
officially withheld, has been given in a more 
marked form by the spontaneous expression 
of the feelings of his brothers-in-arms. A com- 
mittee, composed of officers of the highest 



PROPOSED MONUMENT. 365 

eminence, has been formed at Calcutta for the 
sake of recording, by some permanent memo- 
rial, their admiration of his gallantry and skill, 
and it has been determined that it should take 
the form of a monument in Lichfield Cathedral. 

Nor will his name be forgotten in India, even 
by men in office. The regiment which he 
raised still is ' Hodson's Horse ;' and by an 
order, published in the Gazette of August 13th, 
is constituted a brigade, consisting of the ist, 
2nd, and 3rd Regiments of ' Hodson's Horse.' 

I do not know that his warmest friends could 
desire any more distinguished testimony to his 
services. 



THE END. 



LONDON : 

SAVILL AND EDTVAKDS, TKINIEBS, CHAKDOS STKKET, 

COVEKT GARDEN. 



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